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BISRACHAH HOME, NEW yORK. 



STREAMS 



FROM THE 



VALLEY OF BERACHAH 



BY 



S. A. LINDENBERGER 



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PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY 

The Christian Ai,i.iance PubIvIShinCx Co 

692 EIGHTH AVE., NEW YORK. 






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LittRAKY 



WASHINGTON 



<i 



Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1893, by 

S. A. LINDENBERGER, 

In the oflSce of the I,ibrarian ot Congress, at Washington. 



THE ALLIANCE PRESS 

PRINTERS 

134 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK 



PREFACE. 



This simple message does not claim 
any literary merit, but is a little stream 
from a full and overflowing heart, which 
longs to share with those it loves the 
blessing that has grown too big tor the 
Avriter any longer to keep for herself alone. 



CONTENTS. 



I. How T Learxed the Secret. - - 9 

II. A New Song, - - - - - 27 

III. DivixE HEAI.TH. - - - - 45 
lY. WAI.KIXG IN Christ. - - - 53 

V. Hard Places. _ _ _ _ 67 

VI. Captive Thoughts. - - - - 79 

VII. Looking Up. . - - . 88 

VIII. Enthroned Within. - - - 105 

IX. True Prayer. - - - - 113 

X. B:eHEADED AND REHEADED. - - - 121 

XI. IT IS Done. - - - - i37 

XII. The Waiting Bride. - - - 149 



STREAMS 



FROM THE 



VALLEY OF BERACHAH 



LINES DeDLCHTORY. 



Ir\ tl:\e beautiful vale of Beracliali 

I learr\ all tt|e sor\gs tl\at I sir\g ; 
"Wl:\er\ce strearqs of refresl\ir\g are flo-Wir\g, 

llr\d life-givir\g "Waters Up-spririg. 

T]:\ese strearqs frorri^ tl^e vale of Beracl:\al\ 
Brir\g fullness of life "Wt\ere tt^ey flo-w ; 

Brir\g love, joy, arid peace ii\ full rqeasure, 
Till fullness of blessiqg ^e Kno-W. 

Tl\is "Wonderful vale of Beracl:|al\ 
Sucti l:\elp for l\ard places vJill brir\g ; 

Jill troublesoii|e ttioUgt\ts "Will lie captive, 
RT\d T[e\i soqgs of praise -We sl:\all sir\g. 

Would you er\ter tl\is valley of blessir\g 

Iri secret "Witl; Jesus aloqe ? 
Surrender ir\ lovirig obedience, 

Arid place Ct\rist, ttie Lord, oq tt\e tl^roqe ? 

E. Theodora Crosby. 



I. 

HOW I LEAENED THE SECRET. 

FROM my earliest childhood, until a little 
over twenty years of age, my time was 
all spent in a worldly way. My fam- 
ily were not Christians and made no profess- 
ion. We had no religious influence or training 
in the family circle, but attended church on 
the Sabbath because it was respectable to do 
so. Beyond this, I knew nothing better, and 
really thought that to be a Christian was to 
try desparately hard in some way to be good 
enough to get into heaven ; to go to church, 
and have religion, and be very pious, and, 
consequently, not very happy. The concep- 
tion of such a life was not very inviting, 
especially to a young person who had some 



10 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

advantages in life. Every one naturally 
craves happiness and joy, and this is what 
the world is seeking after ; but no one is 
willing to give up a good thing unless he 
finds something better. We do not blame 
them, and, indeed, believe it is impossible 
for any one to act otherwise. It is not hard 
when we get beyond the theory of these 
things and do really see the beauty, joy and 
victory of a real Christian experience lived 
out, to desire it and never be satisfied with- 
out it. How many things that charm and 
attract us in this world will drop away when 
we find that we do not want them because 
we have something far better ! 

Oh, that Christians in their home circle, 
their business, church life, and intercourse 
with the world, would have Christ so mani- 
fest in them that others would see a victorious 
joy, which would make them hungry for the 
same! We beheve the unsaved would come 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 11 

to Christ as we have never yet seen them 
do, without so much pleading and coaxing 
on the part of professing Christians. I have 
often been repelled by those who professed 
and did not possess ; and, in fact, during all 
of those years of my life in my Kentucky 
home, I never met with a Christian who I 
saw had a real joyful Christian experience 
in his everyday life. I do not mean to say 
that there were not earnest children of God 
in that place, but I do say that those who 
were redeemed, and His witnesses, did not 
let their light shine as they should have 
done. 

My dear, aged grand-parents were true 
Christians, but their inner life was too sacred 
to talk about. How many feel so ! Some 
years of my life were spent in society, and 
the natural result was, selfishness and ex- 
travagance in many ways, and self -hf e nour- 
ished and encouraged. Many times I was 



12 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

heart-sick of the shallowness, and often 
deception and heartlessness of society. I 
longed for something really true, satis- 
fying, and worth living for ; and, still, I did 
not know for what. However, my Lord did 
knew, and He was letting me see one side 
of life ; and now — Praise His name ! — I see 
and enjoy the other. 

My health failed, and some very serious 
diseases settled upon my body. From baby- 
hood I had been delicate, had no constitu- 
tion, and had been most tenderly cared for, 
with almost luxury around me in the home 
life, accustomed to using all kinds of rem- 
edies. For several years I suffered from a 
disease which prevented my going up and 
down stairs, or walking any distance with- 
out pain ; also from chronic dyspepsia, and 
such weak eyes ( caused by granulated lids 
and far-sightedness), that I could not lift 
them up in a bright light or use them in any 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 13 

way without inflammation ; added to all 
this, a pressure on the brain, as of a heavy 
band of iron clasping it — I was, indeed, in a 
sad condition, which neither an excellent 
physician at home, nor water-cure treatment 
in different places could remedy or reach. 

At that time it was arranged for me to 
visit relatives in the North, our thought 
being for a little change of air, surroundings 
and treatment. The Lord had His own plan 
for me. As I look back over those years I 
see his hand in every stepping. I was with 
a Christian family, and they often spoke of 
what God was to them in all the little pleas- 
ures, trials and needs of every -day life ; and 
I saw it was true and real, and my soul was 
made hungry for what they had. I did not 
even have a Bible with me, but purchased 
one, and alone in my little room I talked 
with God, and He talked with me. The 
Holy Spirit put such a longing desire in my 



14 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

heart to really know that Christ was my 
Saviour, and by the very cords of love drew 
me to Himself. As I opened my new Bible, 
many passages were given by the Spirit, and 
it seemed as if they were sealed and sent 
from hesLYen just for me. I shall never for- 
get those precious words in the fourteenth of 
John : ' ^ I will not leave you comfortless : I 
will come to you. " ' ' Peace I leave with 
you ; my peace I give unto you ; not as the 
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not 
your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid. '' In a very simple way I behoved 
His word to me, and, taking Jesus as my 
Saviour, knew that He accepted me, and 
that I was ^'born again." My conversion 
was clear, definite and settled forever. I 
was not depending upon any worthiness in 
myself, but it was all for Jesus' sake. I 
united with the Church of the Redeemer, a 
small Episcopal church in Brooklyn, and 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 15 

thus commenced my new life. I was only a 
baby, but a real hungry one for the best food 
and nourishment ; and not having anything 
to unlearn, or any prejudices or doctrines to 
give up, and never having had an opportu- 
nity of conversing with any of the learned 
divines, I was simple-hearted enough to be 
lieve the Scriptures, just as they read, and 
to appropriate the promises, as a child would 
take his father's word. I was led on 
very rapidly, and the blessed Holy Spirit 
opened up the Word and taught me Him- 
self. 

Going to Ocean Grove, I was thrown with 
some earnest, living Christians, who had 
entered into a deeper life, and had also been 
healed in their bodies by the direct power of 
God. My eyes were opened to a real life in 
the Spirit for soul and body, which I had 
never dreamed was possible for any of us on 
this earth. I not only heard their testimo- 



16 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

nies, but J carefully watching them, saw the 
richness and fullness of what they professed 
made real in their lives. I longed for the 
experience, and knew it was for me as well 
as for others, as '^God was no respecter of 
persons. " At first it was more a blessing, 
than the Blesser to abide, that I appre- 
hended asked for and received. There, 
for the first time, in a meeting on the camp- 
ground, I gave myself in unreserved conse- 
cration to the Lord. I had a real battle 
with the enemy in using my voice in testi- 
mony, but saw that I must be free and 
would grieve the Holy Spirit if I did not 
obey. The word came to me, '^Open thy 
mouth wide and I will fill it." I stood up in 
that assembly and opened my mouth with- 
out knowing a word I was going to say, and 
my blessed Lord did not fail me, but put 
words in my mouth, and my attention was 
taken off the people and myself, and drawn 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 17 

heavenward, and all I thought of, or cared 
for, was to please my Master. After a few 
simple words, that I do not remember, I took 
my seat with a joy and spring I had never 
had in my life before, and I went out from 
the meeting knowing that I was walking in 
the very sunshine of God's presence, love 
and approval. 

I would say just here to any brother or 
sister to whom the Holy Spirit is speaking, 
and making hungry for more, to obey Him 
quickly, and say, ' ' Yes, Lord ! yes. Lord ! " 
all the way along, and that if we do our 
part in obedience He will never fail us. Our 
obedience is far more to the Lord than all 
our sacrifices and works. 

Praise the Lord ! Christ was victor that 
day, and ever since I have had freedom in 
speaking for Him. I left Ocean Grove, 
having my life and desires changed. The 
written Word was made Spirit and Life to 



18 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

me ; I was sealed by the Holy Spirit ; and, 
entering into a larger place, took Christ as 
my Healer the best I knew how at that 
time. 

Returning to my home in Kentucky, I 
found that I was a very ignorant child in 
the knowledge of the Bible, knowing only 
the precious words that had been made real 
to me by the Holy Ghost. Waiting and 
testing days were before me, and I was 
hindered by the reasoning and questioning 
of many who said the days of miracles were 
over, and that remedies were provided by 
the Lord, and ever so many other tvise 
things that seemed very reasonable and sen- 
sible at the time. My own doubts and 
fears came ; the enemy took advantage of 
my little knowledge of the Word of God, 
and, being very much pressed in many ways, 
I went back to remedies. The Lord was 
very tender and patient with me, not re- 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 11) 

proving, but lovingly doing the very best 
He could for me on the plane I had chosen. 
I then saw that the testimonies and experi- 
ences of others, however wonderful or help- 
ful they might be, were not enough to build 
upon, but that we must have a knowledge 
of the Word of God for ourselves, and a 
*Hhus saith the Lord," to meet the enemy 
with in the hour of suffering and conflict, 
and at every step as we go forward. My 
place was not as easy as when surrounded 
by the Christians the Lord had thrown 
around me in my visit Xorth, but it was 
His will, and I now see plainly that it was 
the very best thing for me at the time, as it 
threw me more fully upon God, alone, and 
His simple Word. 

After several years of stumbling, and, 
also very much blessed training from my 
Heavenly Father in the opening up of His 
Word to me, by the Holy Spirit, and teach- 



20 STREAMS fro:m BERACHAH. 

ing me the ministry of prayer, I was en- 
abled to clearly see Divine healing in the 
Atonement, and came to the place where it 
was not what man said, but what God's 
Word offered me. I made a covenant with 
Him to believe and trust Him for my body, 
and henceforth to take the Bible as my 
standard, — burning all the bridges behind ; 
and swinging out into His love, I was able, 
in abandonment, to leave myself in His 
hands. Remedies went ; not because there 
was any virtue in giving them up, but be- 
cause I did not want them and had some- 
thing better. All the disease was taken 
away, and I was entirely well in body and 
delivered from the trouble in my eyes. The 
Lord opened the way for a visit to several 
of the Faith Homes in Europe, and I learned 
much from His dear children in Beth- 
shan, London, Dorothea Trudel's and 
Pastor Stockmayer's Homes in Switzer- 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 21 

land ; and thus I was being prepared, with- 
out knowing it, for a work that the Lord 
was preparing for me in Berachah Home 
in Xew York. In 1884 I came into the 
Home as Deaconess, and here I have had 
the opportunity of seeing hundreds of cases 
of Divine heahng, and very many of His 
people step out of a life of sadness, despond- 
ency, selfishness and even the good self, in- 
to the liberty of Christ. ^'Whom the Son 
maketh free is free indeed." 

I was kept well physically, (my old 
troubles never returning), and very much 
blessed in my own soul and in my service ; 
but, still, I now see that for some years I 
knew very little of what it was to really die 
to self as well as sin, and have Christ en- 
throned within, and not only healing, but 
health for my body. 

About three years since, a most severe 
testing came in the form of nervous pros- 



22 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

tration, and my life was hanging by a thread, 
seemingly. Many of our dear friends and 
workers thought perhaps T was going home 
to Jesus. The Holy Ghost plainly showed 
me that He was leading me into the deeper 
life of Christ's indwelling presence, and that 
all former experiences had been mere bless- 
ings and touches of healing in answer to 
prayer, but that now my Lord was inviting 
me into a closer place in His heart, and that 
it must be a union with Himself for soul 
and body. The words came by the Spirit, — 
*' Life, Life," — and I saw that no one could 
take life for me. I could not depend upon 
others to pray for me, but recognized it as a 
call to be alone with God, to depend upon 
Him and receive from Him. It seemed as if 
I was to have the experience of standing 
alone as fully as if I was separated, as many 
of our dear missionaries are, in India, China 
and other places, without having the at- 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 23 

mosphere of faith around them, which is 
such a blessing to those at home. 

Many passages from the Scriptures were 
made hving words to me by the Holy Spirit ; 
among them, "The Lord for the body and 
the body for the Lord." '' Every place that 
the sole of your foot shall tread upon that 
have I given you." "Awake, awake; put 
on thy s rength, O Zion ; put on thy beau- 
tiful garments, Jerusalem, — shake thyself 
from the dust ; arise and sit down, O Jeru- 
salem ; loose thyself from the bands of thy 
neck, captive daughter of Zion." "I 
will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and 
thou shalt know the Lord. " "As the bride- 
groom rejoiceth over his bride, so thy God 
shall rejoice over thee." 

At the same time the enemy came in like 
a flood, as he always does when God has 
great blessings for us. I felt the very 
powers of darkness surrounding me and 



M STREA^IS FROM BERACHAH. 

blocking up the way ; but I literally obeyed, 
and walked the floor for hours, putting my 
foot down on the promises, shaking off the 
power of the enemy and taking in life. 

Those early morning hours I entered into 
a blessed union with my Beloved, and His 
life came into my body and soul, with a joy, 
rest and peace that were beyond anything 
ever experienced before. 

A month or two later, I had what seemed 
diptheria, but took healing by simply saying 
over and over, '' Thy Will he done,^^ know- 
ing it was health. The life came and the 
disease went as He quickened my mortal 
frame. These testings have rooted and 
grounded me in Christ. Now, it is not a 
blessing, or simply a healing, but the Blesser 
and Healer dwelling inside, and Christ's 
Divine health for the body continually sup- 
plied. 

My work, I am sure, is more fruitful as 



HOW I LEARNED THE SECRET. 25 

I am more hid away in Him. The natural 
activity of the flesh is not to be depended 
upon ; the true life is the Holy Ghost ; to 
live, to walk, and to think as He prompts is 
all that I desire. I can now say, '^Itis 
done ;" "He hath made all things new ; He 
hath put a new song in my mouth, even 
praise unto our God. " 

God has His best things for the few 

That dare to stand the test ; 
God has His second choice for those 

Who will not have His best. 

It is not always open ill 

That risks the Promised Rest ; 
The better, often, is the foe 

That keeps us from, the best. 

There's scarcely one but vaguely wants 

In some way to be blest ; 
'Tis not Thy blessing, Lord, I seek, 

I want Thy very best. 

And others make the highest choice, 

But, when by trials pressed, 
They shrink, they yield, they shun the cross. 

And so they loose the best. 



26 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 



I want, in this short life of mine, 

As much as can be pressed 
Of service true for God and man ; 

Help me to be my best. 

I want to stand when Christ appears 

In spotless raiment dressed ; 
Numbered among His hidden ones, 

His holiest and best. 

I want, among the victor throng, 
To have my name confessed ; 

And hear my Master say at last, 
Well done ; you did your best. 

Give me, O Lord, Thy highest choice ; 

Let others take the rest ; 
Their £-ood things have no charm for me. 

For I have got Thy best. 



II. 

THE NEW SONG. 

" He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise 
unto our God." Psalm xl : 3. 

THE Lord has been teaching me, in a deep- 
er sense, this lesson of having all things 
made new, and among the new things 
He has impressed especially the ''new song.'' 
I believe that in no vray can we so accept- 
ably serve the Lord as by continual rejoicing ; 
and the fruit from such a life is, — ^'Many 
shall see it and trust in the Lord. " 

I met recently a dear sister who was a 
missionary for some time in a most difficult 
field, and she was an inspiration to me. She 
had the song in her heart and the glory 
shining out in her face. She told me of 

the months she had spent on the field in 

27 



28 STREAMS FRO:\[ BERACHAH. 

privations, sometimes sleeping in holes in 
the ground, sometimes going for days with 
very little to eat, or having merely scraps 
from the natives to appease her hunger ; 
three times being poisoned by the natives, 
and rising from what would have been her 
death-bed by simple trust in God. Her 
spirit of joy made the deepest impression 
upon us, and she was indeed an example of 
what the Lord wants all His children to 
be. 

She was so entirely unconscious of hav- 
ing done anything more than most ordinary 
Christians would do under the same circum- 
stances, — to simply believe God. 

Some one has said, "The devil cannot 
touch our eternal life, but will rob us of our 
peace and joy.'' How true this is I When 
the children of Israel wandered away from 
the Lord, and were in sorrow, trial and de- 
spondency, the word was lovingly given, 



'rHE NEW SONG. ^9 

"She shall sing there." Where? In the 
valley of Achor, the place of trial and test- 
ing, where everything seemed against the 
possibility of their doing so. They.probably 
said, ' ' such a thing can never be ; we haVe 
had our song, but lost it." But when God 
said they should sing, that was enough. 
They entered into a fuller separation unto 
God, and a closer fellowship with Him ; and 
even into a life of betrothal, calling Him 
^Mshi," Husband. He is speaking to some 
to-day, saying, "they shall sing there" — in 
the place just where you are, my dear 
brother or sister, perhaps in the wilderness ; 
perhaps in sorrow, or trial or testing ; in just 
the place where the natural joy and spring 
of life is gone, and when you have thought 
you can never sing again, and much prefer 
not to do so ; choosing rather to serve the 
Lord with submission, but never again with 
joy. Perhaps He has been speaking to you 



30 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

and preparing you by this very experience 
to enter into His own divine joy. 

How many try to get back an old ex- 
perience ! A friend said, a short time since, 
that she had lost the joy and love she once 
had in her early Christian life, and would 
give anything to get it back. But what a 
mistake she was making in spending her 
time in trying to revive an old thing, which 
can never be done, for this is not God's way. 

It was His choice for her to bring her into 
a fresh, new experience, which would be far 
better than the old one. The Lord, Himself, 
gets tired of old songs. Let Him speak to 
your heart in the wilderness, so that you 
will not only sing to-day, but at all times 
in your home ; among your servants ; in 
the parlor ; in the kitchen ; in the laundry ; 
and, as Paul and Silas did, under the most 
trying circumstances. 

Let us look at some reasons ivhy we 



THE NEW SONG. 31 

should sing and rejoice. First, it glorifies 
our Lord. '' He that off ere th praise glori- 
fieth Me. " How we earnestly long to glorify 
Him. Do we realize that this life of praise 
is more to Him than all the work we can 
do ? Some wear out their lives wearily in 
Christian work, even in the interest of 
souls, and, still, God is not half as much 
glorified as by a simple-hearted child who 
has entered into a life of praise, shed- 
ding sunlight around continually, and lead- 
ing others into it by her very song. 

Lately, a young woman, who is an earn- 
est Christian, went down into the slums of 
New York, to work among the lost ; but 
one who knew the needs of such a work 
said, *^she will never do to work among 
those people, for her face is too sad and 
too long.'' She was ready, willing and 
earnest, but her very countenance was 
against her. 



S3 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

At the Convention at Framingham, some 
years ago I met a dear sister whose face 
has come up before me many times since, 
although we have not met for years. At 
that time she told me that in her Christian 
work she had been fretful, hasty in her tem- 
per at home, sharp in her tones of voice, and 
wore a cross expression upon her face. The 
Holy Ghost ^spoke to her, and showed her 
how she dishonored her Lord in these 
things, and what a hindrance she was to her 
husband and children ; and, going to the 
Lord, she asked him that she might have a 
sweet voice, an unclouded brow and a re- 
joicing spirit so as to glorify Him in her 
work. Her prayer was answered, and her 
husband and children were won over by her 
life of praise and sweetness, as they had not 
been by all her preaching before, and she 
found she could accomplish far more in 
every way than she had done in her old 



THE NEW SONG. 33 

driving way. "Let your light so shine be- 
fore men, that they may see your good 
works, and glorify your Father which is in 
heaven. " 

Secondly, we are commanded to rejoice. 
"Eejoice in the Lord alway ; again I say, 
rejoice." "Eejoice evermore." We hardly 
realize that this command is just as definite 
as "thou shalt not steal;" and still, how 
many times a day we break this command ! 
Shall we not commence to obey Him and 
form the habit of praising ? 

Thirdly, it is His ivill for us to continu- 
ally rejoice. "In everything give thanks, 
for this is the tvill of God in Christ Jesus 
concerning you." This lesson was deeply 
impressed upon my mind quite recently in 
a dream. Occasionally the Lord teaches 
some precious lessons in this way, and the 
experiences have been as real as those in 
my waking hours. 



34 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

One night, in my sleep, a very severe trial 
was presented, which touched me keenly, 
and seemed about the hardest thing that 
could come : still I could recognize God back 
of it, and see all that He meant in it for 
me. On waking, the whole thing flashed 
over me, and it was as real as any lesson I 
have ever had. I cannot express the joy I 
experienced upon finding that I had been 
able to so meet the Lord in this teaching, in 
my unconscious moments, as to leave my- 
self in His everlasting arms, lay my head 
upon His bosom, and let Him love me. He 
was more to me than the suffering ; rejoic- 
ing, I nestled up to His loving heart and 
sweetly fell asleep again. 

Then the passage was repeated, ^^In 
everything give thanks, for this is the tuill 
of God concerning you." This was opened 
up to me by the Spirit, and the emphasis 
was upon His will ! I saw more clearly 



THE NEW SO.^G. 35 

than ever before that it was His will that 
we should praise Him, and I longed for His 
will above everything else, and at that time 
this was His way of leading me into the 
new song, and educating and developing me. 

How many pressed and discouraged ones 
would come into liberty if they only would 
hear the Holy Spirit whispering that word 
to them, In everything give thanks, for 
this is His will. 

Do you really long to obey God ? Do you 
want to glorify Him in your life ? Do you 
want His will above everything else ? Tell 
Him so, and let Him lead you into a life of 
praise. 

I used to think that I had a great many 
rights, and looked upon things from the 
side of justice ; but now I see that I have 
no rights, excepting the will of God for me. 
You may say, ^' Oh, yes, it is very easy for 
you to praise Him, or for some one else to 



36 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

do SO, but you are not in my place, which is 
so pecuHar and difficult ; I can never do it." 
That is one of the devil's lies. Whatever 
God has commanded or wills for us He will 
accomplish in us, if we will only let Him, 
That is the way, the living way, spoken of 
in Hebrews x : 20, ^'By a new and living 
way, which He hath consecrated for us." 
When are we to sing ? Listen to what 
the Word says about it. In trial. '' Be- 
loved, think it not strange concerning the 
fiery trial which is to try you, as though 
some strange thing had happened unto you ; 
but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of 
Christ's sufferings, that when His glory 
shall be revealed, ye shall be glad, also, with 
exceeding joy." 

We are told not only to be submissive, 
which most of us are willing to be, but to 
not think it strange, and to rejoice, and then 
'^ the exceeding joy " will be ours. I do love 



TilE NEW SONG. ti 

to appropriate that fullness of joy which 
is my inheritance. Do you ? 

We are to rejoice in sorrow. *^As sor- 
rowful, yet always rejoicing ; as poor, yet 
making many rich ; as having nothing, yet 
possessing all things." This passage seems 
to contradict itself, and yet we know it does 
not. Our happiest moments can be in times 
of sorrow. 

We are to rejoice in temptation. '^ Count 
it all joy when we fall into divers tempta- 
tions, knowing that the trial of your faith 
worketh patience." Has your faith ever 
been tried ? Has it ever been tested ? At 
these times have you ever had the Holy 
Ghost whisper His word to you, ^^The trial 
of your faith, being much more precious 
than of gold that perisheth, though it be 
tried with fire, might be found unto praise 
and honor and glory at the appearing of 
Jesus Christ ? " He tells us to count it so, 



38 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

and we must do it, and trust Him to make 
it real to us, even in the darkness, and when 
seeming failure is marked on everything. 
Are we wilhng to appear like fools, as old 
Habbakuk, who sang a song of victory in 
the very darkest hour ? ^^ Although the fig- 
tree shall not blossom, neither shall there be 
fruit in the vine ; the labor of the olive shall 
fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the 
flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and 
there shall be herd in the stall ; yet I will re- 
joice in the Lord ; I will joy in the God of 
my salvation." He goes on to say that ^^ our 
feet shall be like hind's feet, and we shall be 
made to walk on our high places." This song 
in the dark, when everything has failed, 
brings us to where God can trust us to walk 
upon the high places in safety ; places of 
danger, and so narrow that only the song 
can carry us over. 

We are to sing before the battle. As 



(THE NEW SONG. 39 

Jehoshaphat was going forward to meet the 
enemy, with the singers in front of the army, 
he commanded them to sing without any in- 
dication of victory. As soon as they com- 
menced to sing, God commenced to work, 
the victory was given, and they assembled 
in the valley of Berachah to praise the Lord. 
It took them three days to gather up the 
spoils. They had more than victory. I 
used to puzzle over this passage, ^' We are 
more than conquerors," but I have learned 
that after every battle we have the richness 
of the spoils in our life. 

We are to praise Him in physical weak- 
ness, saying with Paul, '^most gladly will I 
glory in my infirmities, that the power of 
Christ shall rest upon me." If His power 
and strength come in, we will not have 
much trouble with the weakness. Some one 
has said, ^' There is the weakness of strength, 
and there is the strength of weakness." I 
would much prefer to have the latter. 



40 STREAMS J'ROM BEftACHAH. 

We are told to praise Him at all times ; 
so this covers every event that can possibly 
come to us. David said, ''I will bless the 
Lord at all times ; His praise shall contin- 
ually be in my mouth." 

Hoiu can we praise Him ? Many will say, 
as I have often thought myself, ''All you 
say is very true ; it is Scriptural ; it should 
be so ; and I long above all things to contin- 
ually rejoice, but how can it ever be accom- 
plished for me ?" It can never be by any 
self- effort, but by simply putting our wills 
on the Lord's side, and understanding that 
this new song is the Holy G-host's song in 
us. 

Christ rejoiced in the Spirit; He was 
anointed by the Holy Ghost with the oil of 
gladness. The Spirit will be in us a well of 
water springing up. It will be so different 
from our trying to be happy and joyful, for 



O^HE NEW SONG. 41 

the song will just bubble up because it can't 
help it. The Spirit will be rivers of water 
in us, flowing out and even overflowing its 
banks and running over on others. 

Joy is the fruit of the Spirit. Oh, may 
we have more of this life in Him ! Do you 
want this song ? Let the Holy Ghost come 
into you and henceforth be your joy. There 
is an intoxication of the Spirit which is de- 
scribed in the passage, ^'Be ye not drunk 
with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled 
with the Spirit." 

Let us gather up some of the results of 
such a life. There will be spoils from the 
battle, which will make us more than con- 
querors. There will be physical strength. 
*^The joy of the Lord is your strength." 
We will be immovable. Not tossed about, 
as formerly, by everybody's thought and 
wish, or frightened by the devil ; but able 
to say, '^None of these things move me ; 



42 STREAJyiS FROM BERACHAH. 

neither count I my life dear unto myself ; 
that I may finish my course with joy, and 
the ministry, which I have received from 
the Lord Jesus." It will be an everlasting 
song, which will not wither and die and be 
crushed by the enemy, but flow on, because 
it is not what we are, but the Holy Spirit in 
us. It will be all the stronger for having 
passed through death. I have found that 
everything must pass through death to 
come into the resurrection life ; and then it 
will abide and be one of the everlasting 
things. Nothing is ours until it has had 
this stamp upon it, and then it comes out 
with the resurrection touch and glory upon it. 
Then^ the song is contagious. Some one 
else will be sure to catch it. ^' The humble 
shall hear thereof and be glad." This song 
waked up Jezreel, and Jezreel called unto 
the earth, and the earth sang unto the 
heavens, and the heavens sang unto God. 



thE new song. 43 

Madame Guy on had this sweet song 
from behind the prison walls : 

A little bird I am, 

Shut in from fields of air ; 
And in my cage I sit and sing 

To Him who placed me there ; 
Well pleased a prisoner to be, 

Because^ My God, it pleases Thee. 

Naught have I else to do ; 

I sing the whole day long ; 
And He, whom most I love to please, 

Doth listen to my song . 
He caught and bound my wandering wing, 

But still He bends to hear me sing. 

Thou hast an ear to hear, 

A heart to love and bless ; 
And, though my notes were e'er so rude, 

Thou wouldst not hear the less ; 
Because Thou knowest, as they fall, 

That i,OVK, sweet XovE, inspires them all. 

My cage confines me round ; 

Abroad I cannot fly ; 
But, though my wings are closely bound, 

My heart's at liberty. 
My prison walls cannot control 

The flight, the freedom of the soul. 



44 STREAMS FROM BERACHAll. 

Oh ! it is good to soar, 

These bolts and bars above, 

To Him whose purpose I adore," 
Whose providence I love ; 

And in Thy mighty will to find 
The joy, the freedom of the mind. 



III. 

DIVINE HEALTH. 

VITHIN the last few years, I have seen 
that there is much more than Divine 
heahng for us, but also Divine health ; 
not only touches of healing, bits of healing, 
but Divine life, which comes from union 
with our Lord. It is life that we need ; and 
we can have the resurrection life of Christ 
for our bodies, flowing in and giving us new 
life, which is not ours, but His. 

At one time in our work we had a young 
woman living with us who had been healed 
by the Lord. After some years, severe 
physical testings came to her, which, we be- 
lieve, the Lord permitted to lead her into a 
deeper life for her body, but she commenced 

4^ 



46 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

questioning and doubting, and before she 
knew it these doubts had led her into a 
place where she could not trust the Lord for 
healing. She had a physician, and he gave 
her the best medical skill, but could not 
reach her need ; and he remarked after- 
wards, (believing in Divine healing), that 
these cases which were taken out of the 
Lord's hands and given to physicians were a 
puzzle to him, and in this instance he could 
not find any disease, — only a lack of life. 
This is an illustration of many cases which 
have come under my observation. They 
have been healed ; but in the testings that 
follow, they try to get back an old experi- 
ence which can never be done, instead of 
letting the Lord lead them into a fuller, 
richer life for the body, which, we believe, 
is His thought for them, even Divine 
health. 

Our very need, when all human help 
fails, makes the promises seem richer and 



DIVINE HEALTH. 47 

fuller than ever before. The blessed Holy 
Spirit, will open them up to the hungry 
soul and speak to his inmost being such 
words as, "I am come that they might 
have life, and that they might have it 
more abundantly." Have you received this 
more abundant life for the body ? 

Paul speaks of the Spirit quickening the 
body. Eom. viii : 11. 

This does not refer to the resurrection, 
but to the present working of the Holy 
Ghost in the body now living. It is the 
Spirit that ^'dwelleth in us" that quickens. 
The resurrection of the dead is referred to 
later in the chapter. Abraham knew about 
this experience when his body, which was 
''as good as dead," was quickened by the 
Spirit. David knew it when he spoke of 
the Lord being "the health of his coun- 
tenance," and said, ''My flesh crieth out 
for the living God," Paul "had the sen- 



4:8 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

tence of death in himself, that he should not 
trust in himself, but in the living God," 
and he added, ^^ Who delivered us from so 
great a death ; who doth deliver ; in whom 
we trust that He will yet deliver us." 

A number of passages in the New 
Testament refer to this truth. ^'We are 
members of His body. " ' ^ The Lord for the 
body and the body for the Lord." ^^Know 
ye not that your bodies are members of 
Christ ?" 1 Cor. vi : 15. ''Know ye not that 
your bodies are the temples of the Holy 
Ghost ?" 1 Cor. vi : 19. He wants to fill, not 
only our souls but our bodies, and when He 
comes into us in this way He overflows 
from soul to body, and we hardly know how 
to separate the two. 

This new life for the body will bring 
freshness and vitality. David understood 
it when he referred to our youth being re - 
newed. Paul refers to it when he says 



blTlNE HEALTH. 49 

''Always bearing about in the body the dy- 
ing of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of 
Jesus might be made manifest in our body." 

This life comes through death ; death to 
the natural strength, the natural constitu- 
tion, and often, even our past experience 
of healing. We find that we cannot depend 
upon this as we once did ; but must receive 
Hfe for the body, moment by moment and 
day by day, from our risen Lord; 

Are you willing to-day to give up your 
own natural strength and power of endur- 
ance, and take this new life from the 
Lord ? Divine health is simply the life of 
the Holy Ghost in us, which is the earnest 
of the Spirit ; the very same thing which 
we shall have in its fullness when He comes. 
"Now He that hath wrought us for the 
self-same thing is God, who also hath given 
unto us the earnest of the Spirit." 2 Cor. 
v: 5. 



50 STREAMS FROM BeRACHaH. 

He was once our crueified Saviour, hav- 
ing purchased dehverance from all sin and 
sickness. Is He now our risen Saviour^ sup- 
plying His divine life for soul and body ? 

How to receive this hfe for the body : 

1. Surrender your body, as you did your 
soul, in consecration. 

2. Definitely accept Christ as your 
strength, instead of your oavu natural 
health. 

3. Cultivate the habit of constantly de- 
pending upon Him for strength, recognizing 
the Spirit in you to quicken your mortal 
frame. 

4. Choose to keep your body obedient 
and holy, in yom^ living, eating and drinking, 
in the use of your eyes, your ears, your 
tongue, and keep your Avhole beiug separ- 
ated unto Himself. 

5. Learn to feed upon Him and drink in 
His hfe. This is somtthing that no one can 



blVlNE HEALTH. 51 

tell another how to do, but the Spirit will 
lead you into it. There is a way of touch- 
ing Christ that absorbs His life. The health 
that comes from Christ will keep sickness 
away. Have you ever noticed how the 
water-drops will roll off the hot stove top ? 
In a malarial climate we have been told to 
take a good meal before going out in the 
morning air to thus brace ourselves against 
the disease. 

Taking Christ's health will prevent you 
being so susceptible and sensitive to sick- 
ness and disease. It will make all you do 
tell more fully for Him. The voice will 
speak with a ring from Him ; the glance of 
the eye with a power that is from Him ; and 
the step with a spring that is from Him. 
There will be a zest, vitality and force which 
will be different from natural strength. 
You Avill not depend so much upon circum- 
stances, surroundings, a good night of 



52 STREAMS FROM BEtlACHAS. 

sleep, just so much rest, or even food, as 
upon Himself. Some people must have 
everything just so or they become sick. 

This hfe in the body will carry you 
through many hard places, and, according 
to your need, the strength and power of en- 
durance will be supernatural. Is it the over- 
lapping of the Millennial days, and a httle 
foretaste of His coming? 

* ' Spirit of Health, whose mighty breath, 
Awoke our slumbering Lord from death, 

Quicken our mortal frame. 
Our strength renew, our sickness heal, 
And let each suffering member feel 
The power of Jesus' Name." 



IV. 
WALKING IN JESUS. 

"As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye 
in Him." Col. ii : 6. 

HAVE you received anything from the 
Lord ? We can spend nights in prayer ; 
we can struggle, agonize and cry unto 
Him, and still it will not amount to anything 
unless we go further and receive from Him. 
Prayer is asking ; faith is taking. 

How many uuhappy, restless Christians 
we meet, who say they are so very hungry 
for something from the Lord ; and still they 
go on for years in a half -starved condition. 

Years ago, in my early Christian life, I 
attended a convention, and was so hungry 
for something from God ! I hardly knew 
what. I went into the meeting and prayed 

53 



54 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

for a blessing, and waited and waited in this 
restless condition until it actually made me 
ill. A friend, who knew the Lord in still- 
ness of soul, came to my bedside and re- 
marked, ''My child, you are so hungry, so 
empty, why don't you stop asking and just 
receive ? " The Spirit carried home the mes- 
sage, and I rested back in the Lord's arms, 
and yielded to Him to let Him bless me. 0, 
how He did meet with me, until my heart 
was rested and my body strengthened ! 

Have you had just a little from your 
loving Father, who is longing to do a great 
deal for you, or have you had much bless- 
ing? You may say, ''Yes, He has been so 
good to me ; I have had so many blessings, 
and He has helped me in so many ways day 
by day ; still my heart is not satisfied, for 
there is not an abiding experience. I have 
such an up-and-down life. A sister once 
so-id to me, *'I had a glorious blessing last 



WALKING IX JESUS. 55 

night, and went to sleep singing Hallelujah, 
and was so very happy, but, somehow, 
when I awoke in the morning it was all 
gone ; I had lost it. What was the matter ? " 
I saw her condition, and answered, ^'You 
need more than a blessing ; you need Christ 
Himself, and you can never lose Him." 

I had a friend who was carried through 
the sorrow of burying her only sister with 
the very joy of heaven in her soul for the 
time. It seemed as if she was lifted above 
everything, having taken from the Lord His 
grace and strength for the day. But it was 
so sad to find afterwards that it was only an 
experience for the occasion. She had asked 
help and His blessing for this trial, and 
then, instead of going on into the abiding 
with the Lord, she went back into her old, 
up and down, fretful. Christian life. 

Let us consider receiving more than His 
gifts £ind blessings ; even Himself, 



56 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

Have you received Jesus in His abiding 
presence ? Is He a living, bright reality to 
you ? Have you communion with Him ? 
Have you let Him love you into a blessed 
love-life v^^ith Himself ? Is He dwelling in 
you? ^' I will dwelt in them and walk in 
them." This is sanctifi cation ; this is Divine 
healing. Sometime since, at a convention 
in the West, the people thought they could 
not let the workers leave on account of the 
blessed meetings they had been having. At 
last a sister remarked : '^ I see what we can 
do ; they can go, but the Jesus part of them 
will stay with us." It is really true, my 
dear friends, that '^the Jesus part" will 
always stay with you and with me, and we 
can have him with us continually. ^' Christ 
in you the hope of glory." 

Are you walking in Him, not trying to 
use Him, but letting Him use you? Some 
people spend so much time in prayer and 



WALKING IX JESUS. 57 

pleading with God to use them and bless 
their efforts in His service, approve of 
some of their pet plans, and help them in 
everything they undertake ; but how much 
better it is to just hand ourselves and all our 
plans over to Him and let Him use us. 

When the disciples were going to Em- 
maus they invited Christ to abide with them ; 
and when He went into their home He be- 
came the host and brake the bread, and gave 
to them, assuming control and having pos- 
session. Then their eyes were opened and 
they knew Jesus. We will find it so ; when 
we invite Him in and give Him entire con- 
trol, we will know Him as " we never have 
done in our earlier steppings. 

In olden times the people who were pos- 
sessed with evil spirits walked and talked 
with them, and were conscious that the 
wonderful strength and power they had was 
beyond the natural ; it was devilish ^nd 



58 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

supernatural. Why should not the Lord's 
children have the same experience with 
Him, and be so possessed by the Spirit that 
they can have His supernatural strength 
and power, and walk and talk with Him ? 

Eecently we met a brother whose exper- 
ience fully illustrates this truth. "While a 
young man, he went out West, and made 
the acquaintance of some wicked, reck- 
less men, who had him unite with their 
band. Taking him into a large room, they 
blindfolded him, and holding a revolver to 
his head, compelled him to bow down to an 
image of the devil, making a covenant to 
follow, obey, and henceforth serve him as 
his master. He did so in a definite act and 
covenant, promising to obey his orders, use 
his power and wisdom, and always look to 
him for direction in any work he gave him 
to do. Before leaving the room he literally 
^^yf ijhe devil himself, and was conscious 



WALKING IS JESUS. 59 

that a new life and power had come into 
him, and that he was a different man. He 
had made a definite transaction and received 
new hfe. The devil took possession, and he 
was most successful in every line of work 
he undertook. The most minute and defi- 
nite directions were given him from the 
regions of hell. He was an uneducated man, 
and never attempted to use his own wisdom 
or judgment, always depending upon this 
devil power, which w^as ever present with 
him. He evaded the justice of the law many 
times, and even w^hen he did get into prison 
would soon get his liberty by the counsel 
and assistance of his wise master. They 
would talk together as friend with friend, 
and it became perfectly natural to look to 
this power for guidance and protection in 
everything. He w^ould simply tell the devil 
what he wanted in the way of money, or in 
his manoeuvres in his trade, and would geii- 



60 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

erally and definitely, get his answer. He found 
that he had a hard and relentless master, 
who would give him no rest day nor night ; 
at all hours he must be ready to go at a 
moment's notice to do his bidding. There 
was such a battle and unrest inside ! such 
a burning and consuming fire in his being ! 
so unhappy ! and yet there was no prospect 
of any other life. 

Some time since, a devoted Mission 
worker in one of our large cities was led by 
his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, to go to 
the Breakfast Association gathering, where 
four or five hundred men assemble every 
Sabbath morning for a warm meal, and then 
receive a message from the Word of God. 

This restless, tired, unhappy man wan- 
dered into this place the same morning. It 
seemed as if it was just by chance, but the 
Lord was directing, although he knew it 
not. In a dejected, almost helpless way, he 



Walking in jesus. 61 

took a seat, and was holding his head on 
his hands, looking down and absorbed in 
thinking. As the missionary quietly waited 
for light, the Holy Spirit called his attention 
to this man, whom he had not noticed be- 
fore. He was directed to go and tell him 
that a new master, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
wanted him. In obedience, he made his 
way to him, and laying his hand upon his 
shoulder, gave the message. The words, 
spoken in the Spirit, went to the man's 
heart ; a strange electric current went 
through his body, and somehow he knew 
that this was a call to him. Looking up, he 
asked in bewilderment, '^What do you 
mean ? " The message was simply repeated 
to him again as given by the Holy Spirit. 
Then ensued a short conversation, and the 
invitation of our Lord Jesus Christ was pre- 
sented to him from the Word of God. The 
man promised not to drink any liquor for 



6^ STREAMS FROM BERACHAEt. 

three days and at the end of that time talk 
with our friend again. Going to his old ac- 
quaintances in a very low saloon he deter- 
mined to keep his word. His suffering was 
intense in so suddenly stopping his old habit 
of drinking, and the taunts and sneers of his 
reckless companions at this new freak on his 
part were not very easy to bear. But these 
things were as nothing in comparison to the 
very strange feehng of helplessness and loss 
of the devil power, which had possessed him 
for years. He expected the weakness and 
suffering from giving up his old habits, but 
the loss of this strange life, which had come 
into him when, years before, he made the 
definite covenant with the devil, left him 
utterly weak and helpless in body and mind. 
In a very blind way he was reaching out to 
find God. He hardly knew what he was 
doing, but was simply turning his face and 
purpose in the right direction. It was suffi- 



WALl^lNa 12^ JESUg. 63 

cient to bring a smile of approval from our 
blessed Master, and He gently and lovingly 
led him ' ^ Out of darkness into His marvel- 
ous light." 

Leaving the haunts of sin, he went to 
I he Mission Home to live. He did not realize 
that he was saved ; but while he was 
feeling out for God the hunger had been 
given him by the Holy Spirit. He com- 
menced in a very simple-hearted way to talk 
with the Lord, his new Master, as he had 
formerly talked with the devil. This new 
way of living w^as estabhshed into a habit, 
and it was most touching to see this man, 
in the most simple, childlike and familiar 
way, talk with his Saviour and definitely ex- 
pect answers. He had the strong appetite 
for drink and tobacco. Going to the Lord, 
he told Him that he could not save himself, 
nor manage his appetite ; that he had tried 
desperately hard, but his efforts, and even 



B4 STREAMS iPROM BERACHAli. 

prayers, were not sufficient and, apparently, 
fruitless, and that now he was quite sure 
that the Lord must do every bit of it Him- 
self, from the beginning to the end. From 
that time the responsibility was laid upon 
Him. He would trust Him to take away 
the very desire for these things. The Lord 
answered this prayer, completely delivering 
him from the appetite. 

Very quietly and quickly, under the in- 
fluence of the teachings of the Holy Spirit, 
he was led on to an unreserved consecration ; 
and it was almost surprising to see this ilUt- 
erate man (not able at the time to even read) 
drinking in the teachings of God's Word, 
hstening to the voice of the Spirit, and learn- 
ing to read the Word for himself. 

One day, while visiting New York, he 
was walking on the street, and for the first 
time spoke to an unhappy man about his 
soul. Such joy came into his own soul with 



WALKING IX JESUS. 65 

this desire to be a blessing to others ! He 
fairly walked home on tiptoe. His whole life 
is entirely changed and has become, as some 
one expressed it, supernaturally natural, 
as he daily lives in sweet communion with 
the Lord. 

He had walked and talked with the devil, 
and now he was walking and talking with 
God. 

There are two little words in our text, 
''as" and ''so," which are very suggestive. 
They indicate a certain relation in the things 
compared. ' ' As He is so are ye also in this 
world." " As the Father hath sent me even 
so send I you." '^ As the Father hath loved 
me, so have I loved you." What is the 
force of this "as "and "so" in our text? 
It is this : That walking in Jesus is no new 
or different thing from receiving, but just 
turning the act of receiving into the act of 
abiding. It is simply repeating the first act 



66 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

of trust all the way along as each new 
step arises. In a word, it is just day by day, 
moment by moment, breath by breath, step 
by step, over and over again, renewing con- 
stantly the happy moment when we first 
took Him as our Saviour, Sanctifier and 
Healer. 

' ' I am believing and receiving, 

While I to the fountain go, 
And my heart His blood now cleanseth, 

Whiter, whiter, than the snow, ' ' 



V. 
HAED PLACES. 

*' Bndure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. " II. 
Tim. ii : 3. 

THE Lord has His own way of training 
us for His army. We have a Captain 
who makes no mistakes. He takes 
His recruits and drills them until they can 
endure hardness, and are thus prepared to 
be soldiers. What has He been doing with 
you ? Have you had an easy, good time 
since you entered His army ? Have you 
been soft, spongy and weak so that you 
have been frightened by a hard blow, by a 
little enduring, by trial or testing, or by the 
very thought of being a soldier ? Have you 
had some real hard places, in testings, trials, 

heart-aches, the keen darts of the enemy 
67 



68 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

piercing your soul ? Has tiie Lord been 
training you by thus putting you in the 
furnace ? 

Each one of us is put to school. Christ 
is our teacher ; and by the many varied les- 
sons He gives us He is educating us to en- 
dure as good soldiers in His army ; and how 
useless we would be to Him in this capacity 
unless we were prepared for the soldier life. 

We are to endure hardness. How are 
we doing it ? Is it with the determination 
to be submissive, even if it kills us, but with 
a feeling in our hearts that God is real cruel ? 
Is it with set teeth and a determination to 
grin and bear it, and by thus doing become 
hardened by the trial ? Are we crushed 
by the pressure ourselves, and making 
others feel it by the fretful and sharp word, 
the resentful look, the nervous manner, the 
sad face ? Are we, by our actions, if not by 
our words, saying that we believe God has 
forgotten us ? 



Hard placed. 69 

Are we enduring as good soldiers, get- 
ting sweeter, more fragrant, loving and joy- 
ful, strong and victorious under the train- 
ing? God is watching each of us, and 
although He does know what is in us. He is 
giving us the opportunity of a testing to see 
what we are good for. He will not let it 
last one moment longer than there is a need 
be. He will not even let it press any harder 
than we can bear. He is honoring us by 
this discipline. Perhaps He is choosing us 
for some high office in His army, and there 
must be a special training. Many times in 
the furnace He will say to us, *^ For ye have 
need of patience, that after ye have done 
the will of God ye might receive the prom- 
ise." 

If we endure chastening we have the 
^' child training" spoken of in Heb. xii : T. 
Shall we see our loving Father's hand in all 
the hard trials He has permitted as ''need 



^0 STREAMS FROM BERACHaH. 

be's " in our education ? Shall we make 
them, as some one has said, chariots to lift 
us up into the heavenly places, unto the 
throne life with Jesus ? Shall we look down 
upon all our trials and see them as God sees 
them, and have them under our feet ? Shall 
we extort a blessing out of all these fiery 
darts of the devil ; not crushed by therp, 
not ignoring them, but getting a precious 
lesson from each one of them, even mount- 
ing up with wings as eagles, soaring above 
them, and springing into our position in 
Christ ? 

Shall we sing, as Paul and Silas did in 
the prison, knowing that God will open the 
prison door in His moment, that He will 
deliver from the fiery dart, and the severe 
trial, and set us free for some special work 
He has been preparing us for ? 

Let us look at everything from the 
heaven side and not from the earth side, and 



HARD PLACES. 71 

then we shall be able to see that '^ our hght 
affliction, which is but for a moment, 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory. " 

People often say to me, '^ Yes, I could go 
through such and such a trial, but this is too 
heavy ; this is too hard ; this is too heart- 
rending; this I can never live through. 
Our blessed Lord understands, and still He 
calls all these hard things our '' light afflic- 
tions." He seems to bridge over the 
time of waiting and look at it just as a 
moment in comparison with the weight of 
glory which is to be ours. They are all 
working for us, while we are looking not at 
the things which are temporal, but at the 
things which are eternal. 

We often think that God will work out a 
thing anyway for our good, but .it is not so. 
His working depends upon what we are 
doing. *^ All things work together for good 
to them who love God ; to them who are the 



Y2 STREAMS FROM BERACSAH. 

called according to His purpose." What is 
this purpose ? It is to be conformed to the 
image of His Son. Are you being con- 
formed to His image ? We are told that the 
refiner of gold sits as he is refining his metal 
and quietly and silently watches it until he 
can see his face shining there, and then he 
knows that all the dross has been consumed. 
Shall we let our Refiner purify us in His own 
way, so that His image shall be reflected in 
us and through us ? 

We plead with the Lord for faith, but, 
somehow, we are inchned to think that it 
will come to us in some easy way ; or, as 
some one has remarked, in a package, de- 
livered, and labelled, "faith, ready for use." 
We do not beheve that God works in this 
way, and think that if it did come so easily we 
would not know what use to make of it. He 
puts us to school in these hard places with no 
other way out but His deliverance. Some one 



MAltD PLACES; K 

has said that if God is going to use His children 
very much He will put them in a furnace 
seven times heated, and I believe it. And, 
praise His name ! by these very testings He is 
giving us the opportunity of patiently endur- 
ing and trusting Him in the dark. We are 
so glad that God knows what He is about, 
and that He does not make any mistakes. 
He has our highest development at heart, 
and He is far more interested than we are 
in our education, development and eternal 
welfare. Shall we let Him give us faith 
in his own way ? 

Have you ever longed to be sweet, lov- 
ing, patient and Christ-like ? Did you ever 
definitely ask Him to make you so ? Has 
He not put you to school ? Have you not 
been learning to endure with the ungrateful, 
the selfish, the unlovely, and even the un- 
true, and have all your plans upset ? Have 
you not thus been getting a lesson in endur- 



74 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

ance ? Many times He is waiting for us to 
learn the lesson of taking our hands off ; 
trying to make things right ; trying to 
make other people what they should be. 
Oh ! may we give our blessed Master a good 
chance to work. He can do it so much 
better than we can. It is very difficult to 
be still in the furnace ; and, yet, it is a 
necessary lesson to learn, and a most blessed 
experience. 

Abraham patiently endured, trusting 
when everything was against him ; stag- 
gering not even at the promises of God, but 
believing against hope. Moses endured as 
seeing Him who is invisible. Joseph endured 
through many years of suffering, testing and 
misunderstanding. David endured, getting 
his eye off of Saul and his enemies, and 
being prepared for the throne by his many 
days of waiting and testing. Christ endured 
the cross, despising the shame for the joy 



HARD PLACES. 75 

that was before Him. Can we see the joy 
set before us ? Can we see Christ on the 
throne ? Can we claim our position in the 
heavenly places with Him ? 

We are to he soldiers. Enduring hard- 
ness is the preparation for a soldier's life. 
If a man is not ready for roughing it, for 
self-denial and self-sacrifice, and to forget 
himself in his undertaking, he is ill fit for the 
army. A soldier leaves all of his dear ones, 
his earthly possessions, his home comforts, 
behind him ; he wears a simple uniform, 
and is known everywhere as a soldier ; he 
often sleeps on the ground, eats the plainest 
food, marches in the ranks, ready to obey 
at a moment's notice, following the direc- 
tion of his captain without asking any ques- 
tions, expecting hard blows, and not even 
frightened when the enemy shoots at him. 

Are we really soldiers in the Lord's 
army ? Are we not only willing and ready. 



t6 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

but do ive choose sacrifice, self-denial and a 
little hardship for Him ? Are we willing to 
be thought peculiar people in our dress, 
our influence, our reputation, and even in 
our Christian work ? Can we trust our 
Captain without asking any questions, with- 
out wanting to feel good all the time ? Shall 
we expect hard blows and not mind them, 
or even be frightened when the devil shoots 
at us ? It has been said that the devil is too 
wise to waste his ammunition on things 
that are not worth much. Can we forget 
ourselves in the great cause in which we 
have enlisted ? Shall we remain in the army 
all the days of our life, not only have 
spells of enduring hardness, but realize that 
we have enlisted forever ; marching as He 
bids ; or standing still as He chooses ; keep- 
ing rank, with our eyes upon Christ ! 

This experience cannot last long. How 
ashamed we will be at His coming if we 



HARD PLACES. 7l 

shall have missed any of this training I 
Ho^v we shall regret that we did not value 
every moment, and make the most of every 
hard place ! 

Then all the drops of blood will be 
crystallized into rubies, the tear-drops into 
diamonds in the crown, and all the sorrows 
changed into songs of everlasting joy. 

'Tis sweet to think that He who tries 

The silver, takes His seat 
Beside the fire which purifies, 

Lest too intense a heat, 
Raised to consume the base alloy, 
The precious metal, too, destroy. 

'Tis good to think how well He knows 

The silver's power to bear 
The ordeal through which it goes ; 

And that with skill and care 
He'll take it from the fire when fit, 
With His own hands to polish it. 

'Tis blessedness to know that He 

The piece He has begun 
Will not forsake till He can see 

The gracious work well done — 



STREA^IS FROM BERACHAH. 

An image by its brightness known, 
The perfect likeness of His own. 

But ah ! how much of earthly mold, 

Dark relics of the mine, 
Lost from the ore, must He behold ! 

How long must He refine, 
Ere in the silver. He can trace 
The faint resemblance of His face. 

Thou great Refiner ! sit Thou by 

Thy purpose to fulfill ; 
Moved by Thine hand, beneath Thine eye, 

And melted by Thy will. 
Oh ! may Thy work forever shine. 
Reflecting beauty pure as Thine. 



VI. . • 

CAPTIVE THOUGHTS. 

*'For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal ; but 
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, 
casting down imaginations and every high thing that 
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring- 
ing into captivity every thought to the obedience of 
Christ." II Cor. x: 4-5. 

HOW little many of us realize in the 
practical experiences of every-day life 
the fullness of the redemptive work of 
Christ for and in us. It is possible for us to 
accept Him as our Saviour, Sanctifier and 
even Healer, and yet understand very little 
of His complete work for the soul or mind, 
the seat of the affections and thoughts. It 
is the source of both good and evil thoughts, 
and they influence our whole character. The 
Word tells us that, " as a man thinketh in 



80 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

his heart so he is," Prov. 23: T. Also 
' ' Out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts, 
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, 
false witness, blasphemies." Matt. 15: 19. 

How necessary it is to have God triumph 
in this part of our being. We know that 
our characters are formed by our thoughts, 
and if the evil ones become habitual, they 
are soon the devil's stronghold. A young 
Christian told us recently of evil thoughts 
that came to him in his childhood, and, as 
he encouraged them for years, they became 
so stamped upon his memory that, even now, 
it seems almost impossible to turn from the 
strange and wicked images which will flash 
through his mind, and seem to be a part of 
himself. It is true that our actions and 
words are generally the outcome of what is 
first lived out in thought. How many times 
we see the inner Hf e stamped on the counte- 
nances of those who have indulged in 



CAPTIVE THOUGHTS. 81 

thoughts of evil, hate or mahce. How dif- 
ferent it is with one who has yielded to the 
Holy Ghost.; and the blessed thoughts of 
love and purity that he brings shine out 
from the eyes, and are expressed in every 
feature. Is not this the beauty to be desired 
above everything else ? 

A short time since I met a Christian 
worker from the foreign field who was very 
homely and very ordinary in her appear- 
ance ; but her face would light up with the 
very joy of God, and a heavenly light touched 
her countenance with His glcry, and made 
her beautiful. This adorning we cannot 
purchase, but it is for you and for me. 

Such persons create an atmosphere of 
rest and quiet, and are an inspiration to 
other lives. Some one has said : ''We can- 
not all be apostles, but we can all be epistles. ' ■ 
Are your thoughts so controlled by the Holy 
Ghost that there is rest and peace inside, 



S3 STREAMS FROM feERACHAH. 

and ''The King's daughter is all glorious 
within ?" 

The apostle speaks of the things that are 
true, honest, just, pure and lovely, and of 
good report ; and he tells us to think on 
these things. But we have found that this 
is impossible for us to do of ourselves ; we 
cannot keep our thoughts. 

Man has been defiled by the Fall. God's 
view of him is that "the imagination of the 
thoughts of his heart is only evil continu- 
ally." Gen. vi:5. 

Christ has provided for the redemption 
and restoration of the human mind. Praise 
His name ! Those who have suffered long 
and have been bound by the enemy, and 
have lost all hope of deliverance from evil 
thoughts, will appreciate, as no one else, the 
blessed message I bring to you — that Christ, 
in His atoning work, bore our sorrows; or, 
as some scholars translate it, mental pains. 



CAPTIVE THOUGHTS. 83 

Isa. liii: 4. Christ's work has been accom- 
phshed for us, and it remains for you and me 
to accept it, and to have it fulfilled in our 
individual hves. Will you believe His word, 
and are 3'ou ready to claim what His aton- 
ing work has already accomplished for you ? 
He will deliver from all evil thoughts, and 
then He will come in His indwelling pres- 
ence and hold captive our thinking, ' ^ bring- 
ing every thought into captivity to the 
obedience of Christ." It will be very diffi- 
cult at first, as the de\il will try in every 
possible way to hinder; but as we reckon 
ourselves dead to them, and at the same 
time alive unto God, He will make the reck- 
oning true, and Christ will triumph in us. 
You will be helped by holding your mind in 
stillness and keeping it a blank, waiting for 
His thoughts ; and as you form the habit it 
will become easier and easier, until you are 
established in the way. 



S4: STREAMS PROM BERACHAU. 

The apostle speaks of our having the 
mind of Christ. Is it not blessed that it is 
possible, and even our duty, to reject our 
poor, weak and often distracted minds, and 
take His strong and efficient mind in place of 
ours ? 

Every child of God, I beheve, may pass 
through this experience in some way, and 
will find his helplessness in controUing his 
thoughts, even those which are not really 
sinful, but unprofitable; and it is only as he 
claims Christ's redemptive work and passes 
through death to all his thoughts, either 
good or evil, that he can come into this 
resurrection life. 

Thus we begin to understand something 
of the richness and fullness of this blessed 
word : "The weapons of our warfare are not 
carnal, but mighty through God to the pull- 
ing down of strongholds ; casting down im- 
aginations, and every high thing that 



CAPTIVE THOUGHTS. 85 

exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
God, and bring into captivity everything 
thought to the obedience of Christ." What 
are your weapons ? Are they self -effort and 
will power ? Or are you learning to use the 
weapons that are not carnal, but mighty 
through God to the pulling down of the 
strongholds that have constantly brought 
you into captivity to the enemy, and all 
of those high things which have exalted 
themselves, even in the time of prayer and 
consecration, against the knowledge of God ? 
We have had Christians tell us that the 
enemy has come at seasons of the most 
blessed communion with the Lord, bringing 
dreadful pictures to the imagination, horri- 
ble thoughts of fear and doubt, foolish, dis- 
tracting and aimless thoughts, which para- 
lyzed them and hindered their faith. How 
weary the brain gets ! How often it makes 
us ill, and perhaps leads to the insane retreat, 



86 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

David said: ''I hate thoughts." Paul 
knew about it when he said : ' ' We are not 
sufficient even to think anything as of our- 
selves, but our sufficiency is of God." It is 
really the will of God that every one of these 
thoughts should be held by His mighty 
hand and brought into captivity to Christ. 

He is ready to stand at the helm and 
say, ''Peace, be still." Then we can sing, 
'^0, that men would praise the Lord for 
His goodness and for His wonderful works 
to the children of men I " We can even 
praise for the ' reeling to and fro,' the stag- 
gering like a drunken man, and the coming 
to the end of ourselves. 

These experiences make us appreciate 
the quietness and rest which follows. ''He 
maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves 
thereof are still ; then are they glad be- 
cause they be quiet ; so He bringeth thq^m 
into their desired haven, " 



. CAPTIVE THOUGHTS. 87 

Teach me Thy thoughts, O God ! 

Talk with me day by day ; 
And help me through life's mazy path, 

To understand Thy way. 

Teach me Thy thoughts, O God ! 

Think Thou, Thyself, in me, 
Then shall I only, always think 

Thine own thoughts after Thee, 

I know the thoughts of man 

With fading lustre shine ; 
I know my thoughts are empty dreams 

Without Thy touch divine. 

Teach me Thy thoughts, O God ! 

What message shall I give 
To this strange age of earnest men. 

This age in which I live ? 

Teach me Thy thoughts, O God ! 

Show me Thy plan divine ; 
Save me from all my plans and works, 

And lead me into Thine. 

Teach me Thy thoughts, O God ! 

Thy coming is at hand ; 
The signals of the glorious day, 

Oh, let me understand ! 

Teach me Thy thoughts, O God ! 

My spirit longs for Thee ; 
And best of all Thy thoughts is this, 

ThQU thinkest, I,ord, of me ! 



VII. 
LOOKING UP. 

" Shall I lift mine eyes unto the hills ? ' ' Psa. cxxi : i. 

VHERE are we looking to-day ? Is it 
to the hills, which represent some- 
thing very strong, and, perhaps, very 
helpful, but stopping short of looking be- 
yond all these things to the living God ? 

Let us glance at some of these hills 
which have attracted our attention and hin- 
dered our spiritual growth. 

Have we been depending ujjon some 
special meeting, or conference, and decided 
that this is the only way that God can bless 
us? Have we been limiting Him to some 
place or set time ? 

Some years since I crossed the ocean 
with a young friend, an earnest ChristiaUj 



LOOKING UP. 89 

going to a Conference to be held in London. 
His heart was set upon getting to that Con- 
vention. It seemed to him that his spirit- 
ual growth depended upon it. After the 
meetings closed he came to one of our 
party and said, ''I have come these hun- 
dreds of miles with the one object to attend 
this Conference, and was sure that these 
good people could help me. I have at- 
tended all of the services and listened to 
most of the addresses, but to my surprise 
and dismay I have not received what I ex- 
pected ; instead of being satisfied and filled 
I am quite miserable." He confessed that at 
last, sitting in a little corner on the plat- 
form, hid away from the sight of others, 
alone with his Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke 
to him and showed him what a mistake he 
had made in looking no higher than the 
human, and that his need was to lift up his 
eyes to the Lord. There in communion 



90 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

with Him, humbled by his past lessons, and 
sitting at the feet of Jesus in separation 
from everybody, he saw that it was not so 
much Conventions, or wonderful addresses 
and experiences that he needed as really 
knoiuing God. 

Are you leaning on some strong, Chris- 
tian friend ? 

The Lord often lets us have these props 
in our early experience, but just as we can 
bear it He removes them in some way in 
order to prevent our depending upon the 
the human. 

A Christian friend, an earnest worker in 
India for some years, has lately been visit- 
ing this country ; and since her return to 
England, having learned this lesson, she 
writes the following precious words, which 
I trust will be an inspiration to some. 

^^ There is the clear witness of the Spirit 
that I am in the will of God, and He is 



LOOKING UP. 91 

eading me now to know what a life wholly 
in the Holy Ghost really means, and that it 
is ceasing from every admixture of self- 
effort. It has been a new revelation, and I 
have entered upon a new life. The Holy 
Ghost brings in such deep stillness of soul, 
such a sense of shame at the thought of the 
least manifestation of self, such a wonder- 
ful spirit of continual worship, even in the 
immediate presence of a living God ; and, 
at the same time, the need of getting deep- 
er and deeper under the covering of the 
blood ; and the consciousness of one's utter 
UDWorthiness increases. No longer two 
lives, but, as a member of the body, only 
one, the natural life having been laid down ; 
not seeking to know anything, but just mo- 
ment by moment getting His thought ; 
having absolutely nothing to give to any- 
one, but willing to let Him give what He 
sees the recipient needs. No longer even 



92 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

able to seek for a baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, which means, as generally under- 
stood, getting some power of one's self ; 
but just behoving for the filling, being out of 
the sight of the eyes of mortal man, for 
Jesus to be free to manifest Himself and 
exalt His name in any way He desires. He 
has given me such an awful revelation of 
the fact that if ever we offer our love, sym- 
pathy, or help to anyone, in any way, we 
are ministering death to them ; sowing to 
the flesh ; whereas it must be His love, His 
sympathy, His help, which will be Hfe eter- 
nal, and alone do them permanent good. " 

Our dear sister has returned to her work, 
knowing the living God, and depending upon 
Him alone, having received of His resurrec- 
tion life for soul and body. 

Are you relying on the Church or its doc- 
trines ? 

How many there are in the Church who 



LOOKING tJP. 9S 

really would be better out of it ? For in 
some way it seems to ease their conscience 
to have their names on the Church roll, to 
have been confirmed, and they have a very 
dim conception of what it really means to 
be saved. Many times we have met with 
those, who, when asked if they were saved, 
would reply : '^ I don't know," or, ^^I hope 
so,'' or, ^^ I am an Episcopalian," or a Pres- 
byterian, or a Baptist, as the case might be; 
but they had no other reason for beheving 
or claiming that they were saved. A young 
girl was asked if she was a Christian and 
she replied: ''Of course I am; I'm not a 
Jew." 
Are you relying on your common sense ? 
Some people are so practical, so wise, 
that they would think it fanaticism to talk 
about receiving guidance from the Holy 
Spirit, or to ask the Lord to do something 
for them that they could do themselves, and 



D4 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

which would be out of the ordinary natural 
way of His working 

A friend living in Canada, who trusts the 
Lord, told me recently that while very busy 
in her home work, she placed a ten- dollar 
bill in a little tea pot on the library table. A 
few days afterwards she made some tea in 
the tea-pot, never thinking of the money. 
A little later she was reminded of the 
money, and then it flashed over her what 
she had done. She looked for it, but no- 
where was it to be found. She said to her 
husband and children: "The money is all 
right and in some way it will come back." 
It was against all her reason and common 
sense, and, still, she had the assurance from 
the Lord that the money was safe. For 
two weeks she trusted in this way ; there 
seemed no possibility of its ever being found, 
but, still, she insisted that it would come 
back. The next day her husband came into 



LOOKING UP. 95 

the room waving the bill over his head, 
having found it in the garden under the 
dining-room window, where the Ijord had 
let it lie for this length of time to teach her 
a lesson of trust. The strong winds had 
not carried it away ; the passers by had not 
touched it ; and it was the identical Ameri- 
can bill she had placed in the teapot. 

Are you relying on your religion ? 

Some people depend so much upon their 
study of the Bible, and feed their intellect, 
and, still, they just have the word in their 
heads and in theory. I have a person in 
mind who knew his Bible thoroughly, could 
preach a most powerful sermon, and still 
seemed to know nothing of the Holy Ghost 
in his life. 

Are you trusting in your Christian work ? 
There are many who have given up the 
world and its attractions, and consecrated 
their lives to the service of the Lord. They 



96 STREAMS i'ROM BERACHAH. 

are active in every good work, are busy 
from morning until night, perhaps, but half 
starved many times in their own souls. A 
friend told me that as she was occupied in 
this busy life the Lord was compelled to let 
disease settle upon her body, and get her 
quiet in her own room to show her how all 
these things were really hindering her spirit- 
ual growth and her communion with the 
Lord. 

Are you depending upon natural strength 
and abihty ? 

This makes us self-sufficient, and our re- 
liance is upon ourselves, and what we are 
equal for, and what we can do without its 
being necessary to take God into considera- 
tion. The Lord must let such people come 
to the end of themselves before He can bring 
them into the life of the Holy Ghost. 

Are you trusting in your money ? 

It is beautiful to have the theory of 



LOOKING UP. 97 

trusting God for temporal needs, but it is 
far more practical when we have to do it. 
Many find it much easier to trust for their 
souls, and even for their bodies, than for 
their bread and butter. Those who have 
money hardly realize how much they depend 
upon it until it is taken from them. 

The birthday of a humble child of God 
had come around, and he was quite sure 
that no one knew about it. But while in 
prayer, he said: ^'Lord, no one knows about 
this being my birthday but you and me.'' 
In the afternoon a letter was handed him 
containing a ten-dollar bill. It was from a 
perfect stranger, who had no idea how this 
little gift, coming as a love -token from the 
Lord just at this time, would gladden the 
heart of this brother. 

Others rely upon their position and influ- 
ence in society. 

Many say they must live and dress in a 



98 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

way to have influence over others. A friend 
was led of the Lord to not depend upon 
these things as a help in service, but to dress 
and live in great simplicity, and be a Bible 
Christian. The Lord taught her the lesson 
that He would lead to her just those to 
whom it was His will that she should be a 
blessing ; for them not so much to love or 
be drawn to her, but to be drawn to the God 
in her. She found that many dropped out 
of her life, but with those whom she did 
touch she saw most blessed fruit ; and it 
was not her influence, nor her position, but 
the living God in her that attracted them. 

Many are looking to a physician. 

How often we hear persons say they be- 
lieve it is God's will for them to be ill ; and, 
still, they are like the woman who spent all 
her money upon physicians and was none 
the better. 

A young friend fell and crushed her knee- 



LOOKING UP. 99 

pan. After years of suffering, the phy- 
sicians, who had held out a hope of partial 
recovery, frankly told her that they could do 
little for her, that she must always be a 
cripple, and, ultimately, would have to lose 
the limb. 

Hearing of divine healing, she came to 
Berachah Home, and seeing in the Word the 
Lord's promises for body as well as soul, 
definitely took Him at His word. Taking 
off the splint and bandages which bound the 
limb, she obeyed the command, to call for 
the elders of the church and be annointed, 
after which she felt no better, but rather 
worse. 

Two weeks later the Lord met with her 
in definite, present healing; and at His word 
she laid down her crutches and commenced 
to walk, and found that new life and vitality 
had come into her. She had some testings, 
and a few of the symptoms remained for a 



100 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

short time ; but she went forward in victory, 
and for two years has been entirely well. 
How much better for her that she looked 
above the hills to Him who made heaven 
and earth. 

These are a few of the hills and we are 
probably acquainted with the most of them, 
and have found them quiet resting-places in 
our Christian experience. They are all 
right, perhaps, for a time ; but the Lord 
will discipline and train those who are de- 
termined to follow Him at any cost, and 
many times let everything else fail, so that 
they will get a full view of Christ, and 
learn to depend upon Him alone. Can we 
say at this time, ^^My help cometh from 
the Lord who made heaven and earth ? '' 
He is a mighty Helper. He will help us 
just at the right moment. 

A friend who has found Him a present 
Helper, writes from India recently, that 



LOOKING UP. 101 

when her little babe was dying and her two 
older children were some distance from 
home, and obliged to ride twenty miles in 
an ox-cart to reach the train, she was led of 
the Spirit to pray that strength might be 
given the oxen for the long journey ; so 
that the children might not miss the train 
and be able to reach home before the baby 
was put in the ground, as the extreme 
warm weather compels them to bury very 
soon after death. The children returned, 
and she found that w^hen her telegram 
reached them, the oxen had been out at 
work all day and it was almost impossible 
for them to travel such a distance ; but as 
she wsisprayiug, the Lord was tvorking and 
giving extra strength to the oxen for the 
journey, which was accomplished. It seems 
a little thing, but it touched our hearts to 
see how the Lord will work for those who 
lift their eyes to Him. 



102 STREAArs FJiO^l BERACHAH. 

A missionary from the South Sea Isl- 
ands tells us how the Lord protected her 
and two other workers from being poisoned. 
One day a native, who was, in some way, 
embittered against them, sent in a fish as a 
present. It was on the table for dinner, and 
they were j 1.1st about to partake of it when a 
young native rushed into the house, picked 
up the dish with the fish on it, and flung it 
out of the window. He then explained to 
them that many of the fish in that country 
are deadly poison, and he had just heard 
that one of these had been sent to them by 
an enemy, and he was bent upon sav- 
ing them from death, which would have 
been the result had they eaten it. 

A minister dropped a ten dollar gold- 
piece on the sidewalk about dusk one even • 
ing. Xot being able to find it, and not wish- 
ing to worry about it, he left it with the 
Lord. At the same time a member of his 



LOOKING UP. 103 

church, quite a poor woman with a family 
of httle children and her husband out of 
employment for several weeks, had been 
asking the Lord in some way to send her 
help for present needs. The next day as her 
husband was walking on the street near the 
church he picked up the ten dollar gold- 
piece. A few days later the wife, seeing 
her pastor, rushed up to him with exclama- 
tions of joy, telling him how she had been 
asking the Lord for help, and that He had 
put the ten dollar gold-piece right before her 
husband's eyes on the pavement. Of course 
he did not say he had lost it, and was able 
to thank God for the privilege of being 
the instrument, in His hands, of supplying 
the woman's need just at the right moment. 

What then, dear friend ? 

^^ Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills? 
From whence cometh my help ? My help 
cometh from the Lord who made heaven 
and earth." Then he will answer and say, 



104 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

^^ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; 
He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 

Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall 
neither slumber nor sleep. 

The Lord is thy keeper ; the Lord is thy 
shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall 
not smite thee by day, nor the moon by 
night. 

The Lord shall preserve thee from all 
evil ; He shall preserve thy soul. 

The Lord shall preserve thy going out 
and thy coming in from this time forth, 
and even for evermore. " 



VIII. 
CHRIST EXTHRONED WITHIX. 

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of 
angels, and have not charit}-, I am 1)ecome as sounding 
brass, or a tinkling cymbal." I Cor. xiii : i. 

IN a sermon heard recently, the speaker 
put ^^ Christ'' in the place of charity, 
and the fullness and richness of this 
chapter was revealed to me as never seen 
before. 

We may have a rich experience of the 
Lord's blessing, in soul and body, power in 
prayer for others, and, we believe, even a 
baptism of the Spirit, and still fall short of 
God's full will, and fail to enter into this 
deeper experience of ' ^ Christ in us. " If we 
are not lost to self, hidden away in Christ, 
our ''life hid with Christ in God," so that 

He alone speaks in us and uses us, control- 

105 



106 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

ling our thoughts and actions, "working 
in us both to will and to do, " w^e may have 
Christ with us and much blessing, but not 
what this chapter means — Christ enthroned 
within. 

There is danger of our being occupied in 
service, resting in His blessing, depending 
upon past experiences, taking satisfaction 
in conscious power, satisfied with His gifts, 
having self-exaltation from prominence in 
His work, able to speak and pray beauti- 
fully, having learned the language of 
Canaan, without really understanding the 
meaning of the deeper truths so easy to 
talk about ; having fruit from our w^ork, 
even the salvation of souls ; and still, al- 
though others are blessed, as God is an 
economist and will make use of each one 
of us as far as He can, yet we personally 
fail to receive this deep, rich life of having 
Christ in us, and are in His sight as the 



CHRIST ENTHRONED WITHIN. 107 

Scripture tells us — ''as soundiDg brass or 
a tinkling cymbal." 

In the work in Berachah Home ; I used 
to think that I must talk to all the sorrow- 
ful and afflicted ones, and try to tell them 
how to be healed, or how to believe and 
what to do, and, indeed, the responsibility 
seemed heavy. But now I see, more and 
more, that it is useless to try to help God. 
We should do nothing in the energy of the 
flesh. Christ must use us to speak or to 
keep silent as He directs. The work is the 
Holy Spirit's, and we find that the Lord is 
wonderfully speaking to many as they enter, 
talking to them daily in the morning and 
afternoon prayer meetings, and in their 
rooms, by His Spirit, or through others, just 
as He chooses. 

When all the guests are in sympathy, or 
when the element is a deeply spiritual one, 
it is comparatively easy tc sail along in this 



108 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

current ; but when there are people who do 
not beheve, w^ho do not understand and are 
chronic doubters, perhaps depending on the 
workers, we reahze our helplessness and the 
need of Holy Ghost power. Praise His 
name that this is so. 

I have known many Christians who had 
strong faith, the gift of prophecy, and 
knowledge, so that they could inspire an 
audience, were able to prevail at times, in 
prayer for the sick ; and yet, there was 
something lacking in their deeper life, and 
their work did not continue strong in God. 
There was a lack of stillness of soul, and of 
having Christ manifested in them. He was 
not the centre of their lives, to manage, 
rule and live and love in them. 

I can recall several strong workers, 
women whom I knew personally, that God 
used mightily in Christian work and in 
prayer for others, and after a time they lost 



CHRIST ENTHRONED WITHIN. 109 - 

their power, and were laid aside as they 
became conscious of self, and the Holy 
Spirit could not fully control, as they were 
not willing to enter into the death and res- 
urrection life of Christ. 

We all may take pleasure in feeding the 
poor ; we are many times delighted to make 
great sacrifices ; but how much self -life and 
self-love there may be, even in this ! how 
often we like to tell of it, and have a good 
time in the conscious satisfaction of doing 
it! 

We hear Christians sometimes speaking 
of what they have given up for God, and 
how they have denied themselves to feed 
the poor, and to work for Him, and they 
seem to think as they have given up so 
much for the Lord, they deserve some re- 
ward from Him. They are, perhaps, even 
unconsciously, resting in their works ; but 
if the life was simply Christ's, we would 



.110 STREA3I8 FROM BERACHAH. 

not know what \ve had done, or what we 
had given up. We would not be conscious 
that we had done anything, or amounted 
to anything. If we have not entered into 
this hfe of having even our new hfe hid 
with Christ in God, the Scripture tells us 
that it profit eth us nothing. The Lord 
gives each one of us an opportunity of suf- 
fering, and often we bear it beautifully and 
very bravely for a time ; but we have found 
out that it is only Christ that can suffer 
long and at the same time be kind. We 
cannot always bear patiently all misunder- 
standing, and many things that are unde- 
served ; but Christ can. He can be sweet 
under all circumstances. 

It is only Christ in us that " envieth 
not ; '' that " vaunteth not "' Himself ; that 
is ''not puffed up: ' "beareth all things, 
endureth all things." He is the humble and 
lowly one, and having Him in us we will 



CHRIST ENTHRONED WITHIN. Ill 

walk with bowed heads and humble hearts, 
and let Him have the victory in us. 

How much Christian work is self-cen- 
tered ! How much public speaking and testi- 
monies are self-exaltation ! It is only Christ 
that can prevent this. May the Holy Ghost 
turn on His search-light into our hearts, 
and enable us to see how, although we 
may have failed in all these steppings. 
^^ Christ never faileth." 



I want the love that suffers and is kind, 

That envies not, nor vaunts its pride or fame, 

Is not puffed up, does no discourteous act, 
Is not provoked, nor seeks its own to claim. 

I want the love that thinks no evil thought 
Nor dwells complacent on another's sin. 

But in the truth delights, and evermore 
Still seeks the erring to the truth to win. 

I want the love that springs from holy faith, 
And still believes, although it cannot see ; 

That even for the hopeless, hopes the best, 
And loves because of what is yet to be. 



112 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

I want the love that all things sweetly bears 

Whate'er my Father's hand may choose to send ; 

I want the love that patiently endures 

The wrongs that come from human foe or friend. 

There is but One can live and love like this ; 

The Christ-love from the living Christ must spring 
O ! Jesus ! come and live Thy life in me, 

And all Thy heaven of love and blessing bring. 



IX. 
TEUE PRAYER. 

TO offer real, true and effectual prayer it 
must be : 
1. In the name of Jesus. To take 
the name of another and represent him we 
must have a right to do so. The unsaved 
know nothing about a heavenly Father, and 
cannot make a prayer except for mercy, say- 
ing, '^ God be merciful to me a sinner." 

To ask in the name of Jesus is to come 
in the character of Jesus. The Father does 
not see us, but Him. "I am the way, the 
truth and the life; no man cometh unto the 
Father but by me." 

His name has power in it. ^' For all the 

promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him 

113 



114: STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

amen."* "If ye shall ask anything in my 
name I will do it." 

To come in His name we must have a 
definite understanding with Him, and a 
oneness of thought and desire. ' * Hitherto 
ye have asked nothing in my name ; ask 
and ye shall receive that your joy may be 
fuU." 

2. We must know the will of God. 

* ^ And this is the confidence that we have 
in Him, that if we ask anything according 
to His will, He heareth us," 

We cannot ask anything in real faith 
unless we believe it is His will. We hardly 
realize unless we study His Word carefully 
in this connection, how definite His will is 
on so many points, for our sanctification, 
healing and temporal needs. Know God's 
will before you pray. The best prayer we 
can make for our sanctification, healing and 
temporal needs is, '' Thy will be done." 



TRUE PRAYER. 115 

A dear friend was trying to trust for the 
healing of her body, but she was not clear as 
to the will of God. She was in the habit of 
continually saying, ''Thy will be done" in 
submission, but she could not ask in faith. 
Later on, she learned that it was God's will 
for her to be w^ell, and she saw in the Word 
that He bore her sickness as well as her 
sins ; and again she repeated her prayer, 
"Thy will be done," but in such a different 
way. Putting her foot down upon the 
promises, and lifting up her head in faith 
and victory, she claimed His will, and re- 
ceived entire deliverance from some serious 
troubles which the physicians could not 
reach. 

3. It is necessary to come into abiding 
with Him. 

"If ye abide in me and my words abide 
in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it 
shall be done unto you." In this abiding 



116 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

our desires and thoughts become so one with 
His that there is no conflict of will. He 
gives us our very desires, and then breathes 
them up to heaven as we are delighting in 
Him. ^'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He 
shall give thee the desires of thine heart," 
We believe this means more than just grant- 
ing them ; but He gives them and then 
grants them. 

4:. We must be right with God. 

''If I regard iniquity in my heart, the 
Lord will not hear me." How many selfish, 
self- centered prayers there are I And there 
is no promise that they shall be answered. 
It would not be necessary for us to pray so 
much if we understood the conditions of 
prayer. 

5. We are to ask in faith. 

''And all things whatsoever ye shall ask 
in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." How 
little we really trust and beheve Grod with- 



TRUE PRAYER. 117 

out sight ! There is a faith in prayer which 
stops short of reaching God, for it depends 
upon the prayer ; but there is prayer in 
faith which even loses sight of the prayer, 
but takes hold of the very throne of God ; 
and faith must have the answer promised. 

6. One of the chief elements of prayer is 
l^raise. 

' ' Be anxious for nothing ; but in every- 
thing by prayer and supplication, with 
thanksgiving, let your requests be made 
known unto God." Prayer is asking ; 
praise is receiving. We need both. Are 
you praising ? 

A friend who had been partially healed of 
heart trouble was trusting for entire deliver- 
ance. Wliile praying the word was spoken to 
him by the Spirit : ' ' You are a business man, 
and you require some of your customers to 
pay in advance and then you deliver the 
goods. Now do the same with the Lord, 



118 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

stop waiting and begging and commence to 
pay Him in advance with praise. He saw 
the lesson and obeyed, and when he com- 
menced to praise the Lord commenced to 
work, and there was immediate and complete 
victory. 

T. We must ask in the Holy Spirit. 

'' Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our 
infirmities ; for we know not what we should 
pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit Him- 
self maketh intercession for us with groan - 
ings which cannot be uttered." Rom. viii : 
26. 

''Praying always with all prayer and 
supplication in the Spirit, and watching 
thereunto with all perseverance and suppli 
cation for all saints." Eph. vi : IS. 

The Holy Spirit at times leads us to 
prayer by sweet emotions of joy. Without 
effort we can breathe out the desires He 
puts upon our hearts, and we are conscious 



TRUE PRAYER. 119 

of blessing and that our petition is heard 
and answered. 

Again He comes to us, as this passage in 
Eomans suggests. It is not joy now, but 
often siiffering, and, perhaps, physical pain ; 
even agony at times. It is not always 
understood by us that this is a call to prayer ; 
but as we learn to recognize the Holy Spirit 
and yield to this cry in our souls, the pres- 
sure is lifted, the headache is gone, and rest 
and joy come as the prayer is answered. It 
may last hours, and sometimes days, or 
longer. We may know what it means ; 
and, again, we may not know, only that it 
is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that we 
are chosen as the instruments for this 
blessed ministry for others : and, in this 
way, brought into closer fellowship with 
Christ. 

Again, when it comes to us on account 
of evil in others, or the work of God, the 



120 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

very shadow may be thrown upon our 
minds to enable us to take deliverance. 

To understand these burdens of prayer 
wOl explain much that seems mysterious to 
us. 

If we can hold in faith and victory much 
shall be accomplished for the kingdom of 
God, deliverance given from Satanic posses- 
sion, hindrances removed from the work of 
God, and we ourselves brought into a larger 
place by this ministry. ^'Behold, I give 
unto you power to tread on serpents and 
scorpions, and over all the power of the 
enemy." 

"Spirit of Prayer ! Thy burdens roll 
On every consecrated soul, 

The faith of God bestow ; 
O Christ, Thy priesthood let us share, 
And the omnipotence of prayer 

Once more thy people show." 



X. 
BEHEADED AXD REHEADED. 

IN a dream, a few weeks since, I saw my- 
self without a head. I was moving 
about in a well body, strong, bright and 
happy, comfortably dressed, quite active in 
going here and there as a little errand girl in 
the Lord's service. It was, indeed, a sur- 
prise to find myself without a head ; and 
looking into a glass, I reflected: I wonder 
that I am not miserable and fretting and 
worrying. How strange it is that I am so 
comfortable and happy and free from care, 
and still not hindered in my work by not 
having a head; but it is so much easier than 
carrying about a head that would not stop 
thinking. It seemed strange, then, that I 



122 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

could see myself in the glass without eyes, 
but I did not even stop to reason that out. 
On awaking I saw the lesson, and the truth 
was sealed upon my heart by the Holy 
Spirit. I trust a heaven-sent breeze will 
bear it home to the hearts of my brothers 
and sisters who are longing for a life of 
union with God, and I wish to ask you a per- 
sonal question. Are you willing to be b3- 
headed ? Let us look at some of the advan- 
tages of losing our heads. 

1. It will make us trustful, for our 
thoughts invariably lead us to doubts and 
reasonings, which, we all know by experi- 
ence, are hindrances to our faith and confi- 
dence in God. We grieve the Spirit, and 
check our growth in the interior Hfe. The 
thoughts and plans of our brain are nearly 
always opposed to a life of faith and trust, 
and many times we are tempted to exclaim, 
'1 hate thoughts.'' Psalms cxix: 113. ("Vain" 



BEHEADED AND REHEADED. 123 

is not in the original.) When we are wilhng 
to trust without sight, feehng or thinking, 
we are learning a little of what a life of faith 
really is; and we find that it is a command, 
'^ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and 
lean not unto thine own understanding." 
Prov. iii: 3. The moment we really beheve, 
we are conscious that there is power. We 
can touch God at these times, and the fire in 
our souls makes us sure that something is 
settled forever. Faith knows that God has 
His moment, and even if He keeps us wait- 
ing we can trust Him in confidence. "Cast 
not away therefore your confidence, which 
hath great recompense of reward." Heb. 
x: 35. 

Some one has said: " Faith must be a clear 
cut taking hold of God; a grasping Him with 
fingers of iron, and with an uncompromising 
committal of all to God. '' The Word tells us 
that— ''All things are possible to him that 



124 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

believeth.'' Mark ix : 24:. Are we thus be- 
lieving God ? 

2. It brings a deep, abiding rest and 
peace ; for our thoughts hinder our commun- 
ion with the Lord and prevent a recollected 
spirit. To be still and know God is far more 
pleasing to Him than the rush and self- 
effort and planning we usually have, even 
in our Christian work, and we certainly bear 
much more fruit. We are very sure that it 
is more to the Lord what we are than what 
we do, and the desire of His heart is to get 
us still enough to find for Himself a resting- 
place in us. It is not our intellect, or study, 
or even Bible knowledge, or a worked-up 
prayer, but the inflow of His life which 
comes from ceasing from ourselves. This 
brings us into a life of power and a Sabbath 
rest of soul, and we have the inwrought 
prayer of the Holy Ghost. To be in the 
presence of such a person brings rest and 



BEHEADED AND REHEADED. 125 

peace to tired, weary hearts, the rivers of 
hving water flowing out to others spoken of 
in John vii: 38, 39. It is, indeed, the mind 
that is stayed on God that is kept in perfect 
peace. Isa. xxvi: 8. 

Where are we to-day ? Are our thoughts 
stayed on God ? Are we in perfect peace '( 
Are we quiet and confident even under, per- 
haps, the most trying circumstances ? Or is 
it true that we are compelled to acknowledge 
that our thinking and fretting and wavering- 
faith have hindered our entering into this 
life of rest ? 

3. It will make us loving, for our heart 
is a much surer thermometer of the atmos- 
phere and condition of people around us than 
our intellect, even when we should discern 
between good and evil, which is often quite 
necessary in the Lord's work. It will be 
Avithout the reasoning of the head or human 
judgment, but the Lord pressing His thought 



120 Sf REAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

upon our hearts, and often the very f eehngs, 
motives and needs of others, and enabhng us 
to feel and act as our intellect could not do. 
If we enter into this experience (the discern- 
ing of spirits') we shall have Grod's love in us 
for others, and shall not be so puzzled about 
what love is. It is not the gush and over- 
flow of the natural, which is often so selfish 
and self centered, but a love which reaches 
out and touches God, and meets every one 
as He sees them and loves them. 

4. We will have God's thoughts about 
everything instead of our own, and His wis- 
dom which is uncommon sense, instead of 
our common sense. '' For my thoughts are 
not your thoughts, neither are your ways 
my ways, saith the Lord. For as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my 
ways higher than your ways, and my 
thoughts than your thoughts." Isa. Iv: 
S, 9. How foolish we are in spending so 



BEHEADED AND REHEADED. 127 

much time in our own thinking and plan- 
ning, when we simply hinder God's thought 
for us. "Let no man deceive himself. If 
any man among you seemeth to be wise in 
this world, let him become a fool, that he 
may be wise." 1 Cor. iii: IS. '' Not that we 
are sufficient of ourselves to think anything 
as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of 
Grod." 2 Cor. iii: 5. To have our mind a 
blank, ready to receive His thought, would 
save us much misery that our good common 
sense often brings us into. How is it with 
us ? Are we living in our self -life and our 
own thoughts, or are we letting God think 
in us ? 

5. We will be more spiritual; for if we 
live in the Spirit we shall not live in our 
heads. The result of walking in the Spirit 
will be real Holy Ghost power in service, 
and also in prayer. How many prayers are 
simply beautiful words, and not prayer at 



128 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

all I Uow few know how to pray, or under- 
stand what it means to be still and know 
God ! The outside world has a right to ex- 
pect to see Christians,, who can do more than 
talk and pray, but who are really living this 
life. The picture of such a Christian is given 
in the first Psalm. '* He shall be like a tree 
planted by the rivers of water, which bring- 
eth forth fruit in his season; his leaf also 
shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth 
shall prosper." 

Also in Isaiah xxxiii: 16, IT, "He shall 
dwell on high; his place of defence shall be 
the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given 
him, his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes 
shall see the King in His beauty: they shall 
behold the land that is very far off." 

We are told that the heathen in the 
foreign field go to the missionaries and ask 
them for the Spirit food, and that they 
often are in advance of us in America in 



BEHEADED AND BEHEADED. 129 

really trusting the Lord, and so quickly 
entering into a life of simple faith and 
trust for soul and body. 

A native woman prayed for something 
she wanted, and, on being asked if she had 
received it, rephed, '^Of course ; didn't I ask 
Him for it ? " To be really spiritual we 
must be blind and deaf to many things, 
and we are finding out how necessary this 
is in order to have the spirit of praise, and 
also victory over triads in our daily life, 
even as Christ Himself is pictured to us in 
Isaiah xlii : 19. '^Who is bhnd as my 
servant, or deaf, as my messenger that I 
send ? Who is blind as he that is perfect ? " 

The darkest hour is just before day; 
just at the time when everything seems 
against us God is working mightily, and we 
are on the eve of great blessings. It is our 
privilege to have our thoughts brought into 
captivity to the obedience of Christ. 



130 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

6. We will be happy, for when we are 
troubled it is because thoughts arise in our 
head. We know of a man who lived in 
luxury and had a fortune, who made him- 
self and those around him unhappy by 
dwelling on the thought that there was a 
possibility of his sometime spending his last 
days in the poorhouse. How fruitless all 
this thinking is ! How it hinders our re- 
joicing in the Lord, and witnessing for Him 
proving to others by our daily life that it is 
possible to rejoice in the Lord alway, thus 
making others hungry for the Christ that 
satisfies ! A young woman visiting Berachah 
Home lately was so impressed by the happy 
faces and lives she saw around her that she 
exclaimed, ''I want what you people have 
got, for it makes you so happy I " When 
told that it was Christ she needed, she at 
once accepted Him for her Saviour. This 
life of real joy in the Lord, in our daily 



BEHEADED AND REHEADED. 131 

lives, is what will attract the unsaved, and 
make them desire to be Christians. We, 
certainly, can do more by a real happy life 
and a quiet, unconscious influence, than by 
talking and preaching. A friend wrote 
lately to a sister in Christ, ''Your face has 
often been before my mind as one of the 
Spirit-touched faces and I have been led to 
think how God can use just the expression 
of the face, yes, mightily." This is not the 
natural beauty of the countenance, or the 
smile for the occasion, but the light inside 
shining out. ''Let your light so shine." 
Matt. V : 16. 

A friend has told us of the natives in the 
South Sea Islands coming to the mission- 
aries and asking for something they had 
inside of them that made them laugh and 
feel happy. It was not their knowledge of 
the Scripture nor their teaching that so at- 
tracted these poor creatures and "made them 



132 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

hungry for soul food, but the divine hght in 
the faces and the rejoicing spirit of the mis- 
sionaries. The Lord will give us a joy that 
is not the natural joy, and He Himself will 
be our joy in us. This joy will shine in the 
darkest hour of trial and sorrow, and Christ 
will be glorified. '^That my joy might re- 
main in you, and that your joy may be full." 
John XV : 11. We can be as happy as the 
little bird on the branch, free from all 
planning, thought or care, but singing be- 
cause he cannot help singing. 

7. It will bring us health and strength ; 
for we often wear out our bodies by fret- 
ting ; and, certainly, worry weakens and 
kills more bodies than work. ^' The joy of 
the Lord is our strength," and we have 
found out by experience that this joy crowds 
out care and fret. It is better than any 
poultice or dose of quinine, for it lifts us out 
of ourselves into a place where our youth is 



BEHEADED AND REHEADED. 133 

renewed like the eagle's, Psa. ciii : 5 ; and 
any pressure or trial can be the chariot that 
will carry us into the very heart of Christ, 
and He will rest and heal us. 

Beloved friends, are we weary of our 
thoughts ? Are we tired of our planning ? 
Do we realize that our heads are heavy and 
hot with the pressure of thinking, and that 
many times there is danger of insanity un- 
less the brain stops working ? We do be- 
lieve that there are some in the insane 
asylum to-day, who would not be there if 
they had learned this lesson of having their 
thoughts brought into captivity to Christ. 
'^In quietness and in confidence shall be 
your strength." Isa. xxx:15. Do we be- 
lieve it ? Shall we Ijt the Lord make us 
a new creation in Christ Jesus, old things 
passing away and all things becoming 
new? 
8. And the best of it all is, that it wiU give 



134 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

US a new head. ''Christ is Head over all 
things to the church which is His body." 
Eph. i : 22-23. Shall we let Him be our 
Head and come into our true relationship to 
Him, and do henceforth our thinking and 
planning and managing and we be ready, as 
the body, to take our place, and follow all 
His commands, walking in simple obedience 
and having Him glorified in our lives as 
well as in our work ? 

HOW TO LOOSE OUR HEADS. 

1. Choose to let your intellectual self be 
crucified. Eeckon yourselves dead to your 
thoughts, and also alive unto God. Count 
all things loss for Christ. 

2. Always stop before you think and ask 
Christ to think in you. 

3. Cultivate the life of prayer, com- 
munion and love, in the spirit rather than 
in the brain. 



BEHEADED AND REHEADED. 135 

4. Expect God to do the work, count 
Him faithful who has promised to work i 
you to will and to do. We do the reckonir ^ 
and He does the slaying. 

I do not think, I only trust and love ; 

My restless thoughts would of t my love betray ; 
But oh, how sweet to still the throbbing brain, 

And in the heart's deep silent heaven to stay ! 

I want to love like Him, who first loved me ; 

If He had thought, He had not loved at all ; 
But He refused to See my sin and blame, 

And loved, and loves me still in spite of all. 

help me Lord, to love and not to think ! 
To live within the heart's sweet Sanctuary, 

To draw my life from love's immortal springs, 
And find e'en here the heaven that is to be. 

Make me as one beheaded, blind and dead ; 

With nothing left but one great heart of love. 
Enough that Thou dost think, and know, and judge. 

My part to be the gentle, harmless dove. 

1 want my heart to gfow from day to day. 
Till it shall reach the measure cf thine own ; 

Till I have room to hold thy heart in mine 
And all my soul becomes Love's royal throne. 



136 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

The love that springs from outward sight and sense 
Is earth-born ; ebbing like the changing tides ; 

The Christ love springs spontaneous from above 
And like the life of God, unchanged abides. 

The earth love looks for worth before it loves 
The Christ love, like the glorious Sun of heaven 

Reflects its glory on the worthl^^ss one, 
And loves the loveliness itself hath given. 

I want the love that cannot help but love ; 

Loving, like God for very sake of love. 
A spring so full that it must overflow 

A fountain flowing from the throne above. 



XI. 
IT IS DONE. 

AND He said unto me. It is done. I 
am Alpha and Omega, the begin- 
ning and the end. I will give unto 
him that is athirst of the fountain of the 
water of life freely." Eev. xxi: 6. 

How many persons are everlastingly do- 
ing, but never get through with it. How 
few settle a thing and know that it is ac- 
complished, and can say, ^^ It is done." 

This precious word, ^^It is done,'' was 
given to me by the Holy Spirit years ago, at 
a time when He was leading me to settle 
forever the position I had taken in Him. I 
believed His word and sang the song of de- 
liverance and victory. It is a song the devil 

does not like to hear. 

137 



138 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

1. There is expressed the idea of a defin- 
ite commital on our part. To really know 
the Lord we must abandon all to Him ; let- 
ting go of ourselves, our experiences and 
even our sanctification, and stop our own 
working and trying to help the Lord. Com^ 
mit our bodies to Him for divine healing ; 
commit our service to Him, letting it be His 
and not ours; commit those who are very 
dear to us, letting God save them and heal 
them in His own way; commit our influ- 
ence; commit our means to the Lord, letting 
our pocket-books be consecrated; commit 
our reputation, trusting God henceforth to 
take care of it, and absolutely committing 
everything into His hands and really letting 
go. This is the hardest thing in the world 
to do. How natural it is to want to hold a 
little to something of our own, fearful of 
letting God have us entirely. A brother 
speaks of the time when he actually conse- 



TT IS DONE. 139 

crated all to God, and it seemed to him as 
dangerous an act as if he had jumped out of 
a fourth-story window. Can we let our- 
selves go into His arms, regardless of every- 
thing else, but to meet Him in His thought 
for us. 

In learning to float you must utterly 
abandon yourself to the water ; you must 
believe that the water is able to hold you up; 
so you must take this step of commital, and 
then look up to God with confidence and 
say, ^'It is done/' Our part is to do the 
committing and God's part to do the work- 
ing. ''Commit thy way unto the Lord; 
trust also in Him and He worketh." Have 
you done it ? Have you committed your 
poor, unworthy self to God to let Him de- 
liver from sin and self, and then give you 
His own indwelling presence ? 

Have you committed your frail, sick body 
to Him for divine healing ? Have you com- 



140 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

mitted your work, your business over into 
His hands ? Have you committed to the Lord 
that enemy who has, perhaps, so wronged 
you ? Have you left your dear brother or 
sister who has been such a burden on your 
heart, trusting the Losd to work by His 
Holy Spirit as He alone can do ? Have you 
committed your influence, reputation, 
money, home and all you i)ossess into His 
keeping? Have you made a definite com- 
mital forever, and can you say, '^It is 
done r 

2. There is expressed the definite pur- 
pose and act of God which follows our com- 
mital. When we commit, that instant He 
undertakes, and in the mind of God all is 
accomplished. His word to Daniel was : 
''From the first day that thou didst set 
thine heart to understand and chasten thy- 
self before God, thy words w^ere heard.'' 
Daniel didn't realize the answer for days 



IT IS DONE. 141 

afterward, but in the mind of God the 
prayer was answered from the first day. 
^' At what instant I shall speak concerning a 
king and concerning a nation, to pluck up, 
to pull down and to destroy it; if that nation 
against whom I have pronounced, turn from 
the evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought 
to do unto them." Jer. xviii: 7-8. There 
is a precious word in the 139th Psalm, verse 
16. ^^In His book all our members are 
written, which in continuance were fash- 
ioned when as yet there was none of them." 
This seems to suggest the thought that God 
has His own chosen plan for us, and as the 
architect designs and plans his work, and 
then carries it out in the erection of the 
building, so our God has His own precious 
thought for you and for me, a ad counts it 
all done before it is actually accomplished. 
What a comfort to know, if we have defi- 
nitely taken the first step of committal and 



1^2 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

all is yielded to the Lord, that nothing can 
hinder the accomplishment of His glorious 
work in us and His plan for us. We shall 
^ ^apprehend that for which we are apprehend- 
ed of Jesus Christ." God is not in a hurry ; 
nor does He lose any time, although He may 
keep us waiting ; but He is saying every 
moment, '^I, the Lord, do keep it; I will 
water it every moment ; lest any hurt it, I 
will keep it night and day." He that sat 
upon the throne said, ^'It is done." If we 
can only get hold of this wonderful truth, 
and have it burned into our lives by the Holy 
Spirit, God's purpose for us, we shall have. 
deep rest of soul amidst all that seems so 
strange, perplexing, and even contrary to 
His working. We shall be able to go for- 
ward, rest our whole weight upon His 
jjromises and be quiet in His will, knowing 
that whatever He wills for us shall be done. 
The sweetest and best prayer for us to make 



IT IS dont:. 143 

continually is, ^' Thy will be done," for that 
covers everything that can possibly come 
into our lives. 

3. The next step is to believe that He 
has undertaken what we have committed. 
Faith must re-echo God's promise and dare 
to say, ^'It is done." Not because we feel 
it, or even see any evidence of His working, 
but simply because the Lord says so. How 
foolish it is for us to say we believe while 
we contradict our words by our actions 
and thoughts of unbelief, waiting to see and 
feel. We can see the absurdity of the 
thing, and how even the devil must laugh and 
be willing for us to talk and profess as much 
as we like so long as we are not really 
believing and trusting God. Does not the 
enemy trip you up many times by telhng 
you to wait until you see the thing accom- 
plished, to wait until you feel better in- 
stead of stepping out upon the bare prom- 



144: STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

ises of God, and being willing to call the 
things that are not as though they were ? 
Are you acting as if you really believed 
God ? Are you trusting Him without see- 
ing and feeling ? Abraham ^^ staggered Uot 
at the promise of God through unbelief, 
but was strong in faith, giving glory to 
God." His believing was counted unto him 
for righteousness. Our desire is to please 
God, and He tells us that without faith it 
is impossible to please Him. Jesus said 
unto the nobleman, '' Go thy way, thy son 
liveth." And the man believed the word 
and acted accordingly. Jesus seemed to 
withhold from the Syro-Phonecian woman ; 
but she would not take a refusal, she must 
have what He had to give, even if she took 
the place of a dog to get it. And the 
word was spoken to her, ^' 0, woman, great 
is thy faith ; be it unto thee even as thou 
wilt." Is He speaking this word to you? 



IT IS DONfi. 145 

Is He saying, '' Said I not unto thee that if 
thou would'st beheve, thou should'st see 
the glory of God ? " 

4. Finally, we shall have, ''It is done " 
by actual experience and fulfillment. " Call 
upon me and I will answer thee and show 
thee great and mighty things." 

The Lord gives to us as He did to the 
children of Israel, ''All the land that He 
sware to give unto their fathers, and they 
possessed it and dwelt therein." And the 
Lord gave them rest round about, accord- 
ing to all that He sware unto their fathers ; 
and there stood not a man of all their 
enemies before them ; the Lord dehvered 
all their enemies into their hand. There 
failed not aught of any good thing which 
the Lord had spoken unto the house of 
Israel ; all came to pass." 

It is glorious to thus march on and have 
God make the thing real to us which we 



146 Streams from berachah. 

have taken by faith. He does want us to 
have the fulfillment of all His promises. 

There are two songs in Jehoshaphat's 
great battle — the song of faith before, and 
the song of deliverance afterwards. 

We, too, shall have our song in the 
valley of Berachah, praising God for the 
fulfillment of all that has been promised ; 
but it is more precious to have had the song 
of faith before, praising Him without sight 
or feeling, and seeing Him set ambushments 
against the enemy and complete the victory. 
Shall we have both ? 

Have you taken these steppings, dear 
brother, dear sister ? Happy are you, in- 
deed, if you can say, "It is done" in your 
committal ; " It is done " in the purpose of 
God ; "It is done " by faith ; " It is done " 
by actual experience. 

'* Hark a voice from heaven proclaiming 
' It is done.' 



IT IS DONEi. 147 



Faith repeats the echo, claiming 
^ It is done. ' 

" Hear the blessed Saviour crying 
'It IS done.' 
Claim His finished work, replying 
'It is done.' 

"Yield th5'^self in consecration, 
' It IS done.' 
Take the Lord for full salvation, 
' It is done.* 

" Claim the promise of His healing, 
' It is done.' 
Trust without a sign or feeling, 
' It is done. ' 

" Say of every promised blessing, 
' It is done.' 
Rest upon His word, confessing, 
■' It is done.' 

" This the secret of receiving, 
' It is done,' 
Take Him at His Word, believing 
' It is done.' 

"God declares of things that be not, 
' It is done, ' 



148 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

Faith repeats, though still we see not, 
' It is done.' 

'' Resting on His sure ordaining, 
'It is done.' 
Sing as if in glory reigning, 
' It is done.' 

" Soon will end the long delaying, 
' It is done. ' 
Soon shall come the answer, saying 
' It is done. ' 

" Soon we'll sing in glad fruition, 
'It is done.' 
Faith shall end in joyful vision, 
' It is done. ' 

" Faith has found its coronation, 
' It is done.' 
Hope its glorious consummation, 
' It is done.' " 



XII. 
THE WAITING BRIDE. 

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to 
Him : for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His 
wife hath made herself ready." "And to her was 
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean 
and white." Rev. xix: 7, 8. 

THE Lord is now gathering out His 
Bride and getting her ready for the 
marriage. He is preparing her robes 
and making them clean and white. Are 
you to be one of the Bride ? 

I. This beautiful type runs all through 
the Bible Eve was born out of Adam's 
body, and so we are formed out of Christ's, 
to be given back to Him in this most inti- 
mate relationship. Eebekah was won by 
149 



150 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

Eliezer and married to Isaac, which is a type 
of the Holy Ghost, taking out of this world 
a bride and bringing her to meet her Lord, 
This beautiful picture runs through the 
Song of Solomon. ^'My beloved is mine 
and I am his. " In Isaiah we have the sweet 
word, ''Thy Maker is thy Husband;" ''As 
the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so 
shall thy God rejoice over thee. " Hosea says, 
"Thoushalt caU me Ishi," husband. This 
same truth We find in the New Testament, 
where Paul compares the human relation- 
ship to the Divine. 

II. This union of the bride brings her 
into the closest relationship with the Bride- 
groom, sharing His name, interest, prop- 
erty, love and veryhfe, bringing her into 
the most perfect oneness with Himself. 

III. The call at this time is to enter into 
our betrothal with Him. The marriage is 
not yet come. "1 will even betroth thee 



THE WAITING BRIDE. 151 

unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt 
know the Lord." Yet many of us have a 
foretaste of the millennial life even now, 
having a touch of the resurrection life in our 
bodies which brings Divine healing, and 
the sweetness of the marriage joy even 
here, as the earnest of our full inheritance. 

IV. This hope and longing for His com- 
ing is the test of our love and loyalty to 
Him. It will become an inspiration in 
our lives, and everything else will be as 
nothing in comparison. It will lift us above 
the many things that would fret and bur- 
den and even take our very life. Many of 
us believe that the time is drawing very near 
for His personal coming. Are we ready, are 
we longing for His coming ? Shall our robes 
be clean and white, and can we say to-day, 
' ' Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ?" When 
the bride is really ready and can say. Come, 
He will answer, ^'I come quickly." Shall 



152 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

we give an earnest, steady look, and, by 
faith, see our coming Lord, as Eebekah saw 
Isaac in the distance, and shall we veil our 
faces as she did, hiding out all other sights 
but our Bridegroom ? Some will be called to 
the marriage feast of the Lamb, but they 
may only be guests and not the Bride. Some 
may be left behind. What company shall 
we be in ? 

1. Our true preparation is holiness, the 
clean robe spoken of in Eevelation. We are 
made partakers of the Divine nature. 
II Pet. i: 4. '' The very God of peace sanc- 
tify you wholly : and I pray God your whole 
spirit and soul and body be preserved blame 
less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." I Thess. v: 23. ^^Eooted and 
grounded in love. '' Eph. iii: 17. The Lord 
is getting some of us ready, beloved, and He 
has been alluring us into the wilderness, and, 
by experiences of suffering and separation, 



THE WAITING BRIDE. 153 

bringing us into the fullness of His love. 
He has been answering our cry, ^' Tell me, 
oh, thou whom my soul loveth, where thou 
feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest 
at noon." He will make us to sit down 
under His shadow and feed us Himself, and 
'^ His fruit will be sweet to our taste." Shall 
we get under His shadow and stay there and 
be hid away ; willing not to be seen nor 
heard, losing all of our natural activity and 
eagerness even for Christian work, that 
Christ only may be seen and heard ; thus by 
death to self coming into His resurrection 
life, the true source of our physical strength 
and spiritual life ? 

2. Loveliness is the lustrous robe spoken 
of in Eevelation. Some one has said that 
the clean robe is having Christ made unto 
us holiness ; but the lustrous robe is hav- 
ing Him make us bright and shining 
so that His very glory is manifest. This 



154 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

suggests the homely illustration of the 
laundress putting the clothes in the wash- 
tub and bringing them out clean, but 
rough dried, then putting them under the 
hot iron, taking out every wrinkle, after 
which they are not only clean, but shining. 
Has the Lord been dealing with you in 
this way, not only cleansing, but polishing 
you, so that there shall be no spot nor 
wrinkle, nor any such thing at His coming ? 
The following incident was told by a re- 
turned missionary. She had worked in the 
field for years without being satisfied with 
her own Christian life, not iiaving the 
rest, peace and joy of which others spoke. 
She came to the place where she asked the 
Lord to teach her Himself, if it was possible 
to have, on this earth, this constant, vic- 
torious life. At this time she attended a 
conference, and glancing around the congre- 
gation, was attracted by a face which had 



THE WAITING BRIDE. 155 

the sweet peace and joy of heaven impressed 
upon it — a rest which seemed to her must 
come from a Hf e inside, and was simply the 
expression of it. Each day, as long as the 
conference lasted, she involuntarily looked 
for that sweet face to see if it was yet 
speaking for the Master in having this set- 
tled, abiding joy and love upon it. Each 
time she seemed to see the glory more mani- 
fest. At the close of the conference she 
went home, knowing that her prayer was 
answered, and satisfied that it was her priv- 
ilege to enter into this blessed union with the 
Lord, and have the same experience of which 
she had seen a living example. Very soon 
after her hungry heart was satisfied, and as 
she believed in God, He met with her and 
came to abide in her heart, so that she knew 
Him as a victorious Saviour, triumphing in 
her life and work. In the joy of her new life 
she wrote to this brother (never having had 



156 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

any conversation with him), telhng him that 
his face had spoken to her, and was God's 
messenger, reveahng Christ Himself. He 
answered her letter, praising the Lord for 
this little opportunity of service, saying how 
he had been at that time cut off entirely 
from Christian work by failing health, and 
was commanded by his physician to give up 
all pastoral duties, and simply be idle and 
silent. This was the very hardest thing he 
could have had to do, but he yielded to God, 
asking Him not to let his service cease, but 
in some way to use him, even in his silence. 
And this little experience was the answer of 
his loving God granting him one of the de- 
sires of his heart. 

3. Marriage love and the bridal heart. 
We enter into a love4ife which is far more 
than service from a sense of duty. How 
difficult it is to try to work like machines, 
determined for duty's sake to be useful! 



THEi WAII^lNG BRIDE. 157 

How different to have a love which is wak- 
ened up in our hearts by the dear Lord 
Himself, to give back to Him in service, 
because we can't help it, for love's sake. 

4. Intimacy with our Beloved. We call 
Him Ishi, husband, and take all His gifts 
with Himself, without trying to be worthy, 
to merit, or purchase anything from Him. 
We gladden His heart by receiving all He 
would lavish on His bride. 

5. Separation. He is calling some of us 
to-day to give up all and follow Him. He 
is saying, ^'Eiseup my love, my fair one, 
and come away." Shall we be ready to 
separate ourselves from all that is holding 
us back ? Shall we say as Eebekah did, ' * I 
will go with this man ? " Shall we obey at 
any cost ? Have we let our friends hold us 
back, wanting to be very proper and re- 
spectable ? Have we feared to cut loose and 
really follow the Lord ? Have we been pre- 



158 STREAMS FROM BERACHAU. 

serving our reputation? Have we been 
compromising in some way with the world 
or with our self -life, withholding something, 
from our Beloved ? Are we willing to wait 
in silence if He so lead ? He is wanting to 
teach us a new song and tell us that, ^^ The 
time of the singing, of birds is come." 
The Lord is calling us not only to go out 
to separation, but to a life of song. These 
last days we shall reahze the power of the 
enemy as never before ; but shall we sing, 
'^ Although the fig-tree shaU not blossom, 
neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor 
of the olive shall fail, the fields shall yield 
no meat ; the flocks shall be cut off from 
the fold, and there shall be no herd in the 
stalls ; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I wiU 
joy in the God of my salvation ? " Shall we 
meet the enemy with, '^Xone of these 
things move me, neither count I my life 
dear unto myself, so that I might finish my 



I'HE WAITING BRIDE. 159 

course with joy, and the ministry which I 
have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
the gospel of the grace of God ? '' 

6. Intelligent sympathy with His plans 
and interests. Shall we work for Him in 
His w^ay, at His bidding and direction, not 
with our own plans and set ways ? Are we 
ready to go into the highways and hedges 
and compel them to come in ; ready to go 
into the slum-work or to be shut away in 
the silent ministry of prayer, to meet the 
dear Lord in any service He may plan for 
us, great or small, only to step in line with 
His leadings ? 

7. Sending out the wedding invitation. 
Shall we give the message to those near us 
and dear to us, and to those far away ? Shall 
we send the invitation or go ourselves to Jeru- 
salem, Africa, India or the South Sea Islands? 
Shall we use our time, talents, our money 
in this way? When the bride is ready and the 



160 STREAMS FROM BERACHAH. 

invitation is given out, the marriage will 
take place, and our greatest work will begin. 
After this union ^th the Bridegroom 
most blessed fruit will be given to us, 
far more fully than ever before. "The 
Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let 
him that heareth say, Come. And let him 
that is athirst come. And whosoever will, 
let him take the water of hf e freely. " 

The Bridegroom comes ! 

Bride of the Lamb, awake ! 
The midnight cry is heard ; 

Thy sleep forsake. 

The Marriage-day 

Has come ; Hft up thy head ! 

Put on thy bridal robe, 
The feast is spread. 

Shake off earth's dust, 

And wash thy weary feet 
Arise, make haste, go forth, 
The Bridegroom greet. 

Sing the new song, 

Thy triumph has begun ; 
Thy tears are wiped away, 

Thy night is done ! 



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